Conviviality PokeStory
by Safaia Papaya
Summary: A tale of Nentoudoi Anna, Keikoon Justyna, and Kanimomo Dawn and occasionally Brad as they explore the world of Pokemon with new and old friends. This is a story, is CRACK.
1. It Begins

In the far and vast region of Sinnoh, there is a town called Twinleaf. It is a place of beginning for those who wish to travel with their friends, both human and pokemon, for those who wish to learn something about life and soul, and for those who are bored. And in this town there lived two friends. One, delicate but adventurous. The other, strong, willing and hebetudinous. When one today decides, to start her journey into fun and happiness, darkness and pain, friends and idiots, the other is sure to follow. This is the beginning of an awkward tale.

"Anna! Are you awake yet?"

"Yes. Yes, I am."

To be honest, she never slept. That is an exaggeration. But nonetheless, Anna slept little. Between school and expectations at home and friends and the indulgence of a certain genre of manga, it was an accomplishment just to exist.

Nentoudoi Anna closed her laptop. She was still wearing the clothes she wore to school yesterday. Her brown hair was as fuzzy as ever and her glasses were going against their purpose. Now if it was any other Saturday she would have continued to explore the internet but as would be the purpose of this adventure, this was not any other ordinary Saturday. She took a shower, refusing to brush her hair, and changed into some clean clothes; a pair of faithful jeans, her favorite shirt, which was green with various lighter colored designs and her infamous chocobo hairclip. She started to pack. She didn't want to be in a hurry to get ready after breakfast. She unraveled her backpack. It was hand sewn by her grandmother with designs of teddy bears, monkeys, and kitties. It was huuuuge, man. She stored inside, her sketchbook and her best pencils along with two erasers and a sharpener. She took her wallet; it only contained about one thousand yen, but Anna was hoping that her mother would give her more. She found a small bag to hold her toothbrush and other bathroom-ar objects, including one set of spare clothes. She took along a small sewing kit with fabric and needles. She also stored a small notepad and her phone. Lastly, she stuffed her toy Pikachu in there. It was old and worn-out from too many years of loving and that's why she was taking it.

Anna assumed that that was it. She slung the bag over her shoulder and joined her family in the kitchen for a breakfast of assorted sandwiches and tea. Her grandparents enjoyed the tea. Her mother and father discussed work. Her sister, Ola, stuffed herself. Anna ate her breakfast thoughtfully across from the empty seat of her brother. He was where she was going to be going after breakfast.

They finished breakfast. When washing her hands in her bathroom for the last time for a while, it Dawned upon her that she had forgotten something. She rushed into her room, kicked the family growlithe off her bed, and found her still-bright-green-after-all-these-years leek. It was big and sturdy and stuck out of her bag…majestically!

After venturing downstairs again, her parents bid her farewell and good luck and to remember to call. Her mother did give her more. Her grandparents offered their words of advice and one apple for the road. Ola stood in the background eating a bagel with strawberry spread, but she did step up to give her sister a hug as well. Only Mella that growlithe was happy to see her go. Anna checked over her things one last time and she was off to Sandgem Town to get her first pokemon.

Anna had just latched her front gate when someone nearly THUDed into her. That someone was Keikoon Justyna: neighbor and unfortunately BFF. She stood up straight with her blond hair tied back and glasses crooked. Like Anna she wore comfortable jeans and her favorite black shirt, which read DFTSC, a careful acronym. She also wore a long pink scarf despite that it was very warm. She loved that scarf. She had her own huge bag covered in Lucky Stars and filled with paper and pencils and many useless things she refused to leave behind.

"Hey dude. You look tired." Justyna noted.

"I'm always tired." Anna replied in her monotone voice.

"Okay, whatever. Are we going to Rowan's now?"

"I guess." Anna shrugged. No one could tell how excited she was.


	2. More Stuff Happens

So the two were off. Justyna pranced ahead, eager to leave Twinleaf. Anna walked behind her. Taking her time, observing the houses they passed and their small gardens and the playground as they passed the small park. She was excited but was never in a hurry. Justyna at one point ran to the edge of town and she came back after five minutes when she realized Anna wasn't there.

She called back to Anna, "What pokemon do you wanna get?"

"I don't even know which ones they're going to have. I'll see when we get there."

"Well what type would you want?"

Anna thought.

"I like grass types, but I'm not going to be picky about it."

"I really want a fire one! Fire pwns everything." Justyna exclaimed. She put a twist in her jump. "It'll be awesome! Just imagine, walking around with a warm fuzzy fire pokemon on my head!"

"What if it doesn't want to stay on your head?"

"Then I'll make it!"

It was left at that. Justyna ran ahead again to the edge of Twinleaf and stayed there. Anna enjoyed the rest of the walk out of town. They were going to be gone a while and she wanted to appreciate her hometown. When she passed the last gate of the last house in Twinleaf, Anna entered a bright clearing. Before it was a sparse patch of trees and somewhere in them, Sandgem Town. Justyna was standing there, gazing up a tree where a nest of starlys was perched.

"I want one." She wished, "They're so cute!" She emphasized the last words, making the starly turn in her direction.

"You know the way to Sandgem, right?" Anna rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Awesome."

Anna led the way into the forest. She had gone to Sandgem once but still remembered the way. Justyna blindly followed her, observing everything else but the road. God knows how she managed not to trip. They came to a fork in the road. Anna turned right.

"Justyna, it's this way." She had gone left.

"I know but this way's the lake. I wanna see it before we go."

Strange, wasn't she in a hurry? Wasn't she eager to get her pokemon? What's with the detour? These thoughts boggled Anna for a moment but she agreed with her friend. _She _wasn't in a hurry either way. They followed the dirt path through the trees and were soon on a grassy cliff overlooking Lake Verity.

There was a nice breeze off the water. Anna enjoyed the moment. Hopefully their new travels would take them to the ocean with the same breeze. Justyna started whistling an odd tune. It was a random song she had somewhere in her brain, but it seemed to fit the moment. Other than that it was quiet and still.

"Give that back!"

Justyna shrieked in surprise. Anna turned around confused. Out of the trees jumped a mightyena, bringing Anna and Justyna to their senses. And in that mightyena's mouth were three red and oversaliva-ized pokeballs.


	3. Through Fire and Grass

It noticed Anna and Justyna and turned its head quickly to face them. It snarled as viciously as it could with three spheres in its teeth. Now three pokeballs are a lot to carry in a mightyena's mouth. One was safe held by its tongue but the others were held just by the sides of its mouth. Those two were already slowly slipping out of its fangs and that swift turn of his head and snarl let them fall from his mouth.

With her sharp reflexes, developed from her natural sense of acting before thinking, Justyna grabbed a pokeball and threw it, releasing the pokemon inside. An orange monkey somersaulted out and stood to face the mightyena.

"Sweet! A chimchar!" Justyna exclaimed. If the moment hadn't called for immediate action, she would have done her happy dance.

"Chimchar! Use Flamethrower!" Justyna commanded her new pokemon. Chimchar did nothing. The mightyena bit the fire pokemon's head and threw it back toward its 'trainer.'

"Justyna, I don't think that chimchar's strong enough to use a move like that." Anna told Justyna. If only her voice wasn't so monotone, she could have shouted and caught Justyna's attention.

"Chimchar! Try again!" It failed a second time. The chimchar gripped its head and whined in pain. The mightyena lifted its head to triumphantly howl at the Sun.

Anna took this chance to grab the other pokeball the mightyena had dropped. She threw it. It hit the grass and released a green turtle-like pokemon with a sprout on its head.

"It's a turtwig." Anna stated. She quickly tried to remember what moves a turtwig would know.

"Turtwig! Use…Tackle!"

It launched off the grass and hit the advancing mightyena in the snout. The mightyena fell over and whimpered. Anna did her happy dance.

"Awesome!" Justyna rejoiced, "Chimchar! Use Tackle too!"

"Chim, cha!" it yelled back, it was a good thing neither of the understood. It did nothing.

The mightyena wobbled to it feet and snarled once again. It ran and its run turned into a Tackle attack. But Anna commanded again and the turtwig knocked its opponent over like a domino. It was a heavy turtwig.

Justyna watched, disgruntled by her failure. The chimchar looked like it would attack if given another order. Not the mightyena, of course.

Turtwig attacked again. It spun its head, releasing leaves from the sprout that scored the mightyena's sides. Anna smiled. The turtwig protected her by itself.

The mightyena fell over panting. The last pokeball rolled off its tongue. Turtwig jumped and spun in celebration. Chimchar continued to show hostility. Anna did her happy dance once more and Justyna pondered.

"Anna where do you think Mightyena came from in the first place?"

As if by cue, a red beam of light shot out of the forest and brought Mightyena back to its pokeball. Its trainer was hidden by the leaves. There was a rustling and fast footsteps.

"Crack! He's getting away!" Justyna leaped to chase him but resigned.

"I'm not gonna catch him…"

"What goes on here?"

The two girls turned to see an elderly white-haired man and a boy about their age with black hair, glasses, and a strangely out-of-place red vest.

"Isn't that Rowan?" Justyna asked.

"Yes. I am. Are those my pokemon?" the Professor sighed and pointed at Turtwig and Chimchar.

"No" Justyna said, "They are ours."


	4. The Journey Officially Begins

There was a long, silent moment that was described perfectly by the black haired boy accompanying Rowan.

"Awkward Moose…" he said, using his hands as antlers, one facing upside-down.

Rowan sighed again, "Yes, thank you Brad."

Anna quickly explained the situation to Rowan and Brad, who eyed Justyna as she poked Chimchar with a cookie she had had in her bag. It refused and continued swearing.

"I see." Rowan said, as he stroked his white beard in thought, "Understandable, you had no choice but to defend yourselves."

"Are you gonna take the pokemon back?" Justyna called, holding the chimchar down after a bad incident with the cookie.

"I thought you said they were yours." Brad pointed out.

Turtwig jumped at Anna, who caught it in her arms. It growled adoringly. Justyna whined.

"I see she likes you." Rowan said, "I couldn't take them away." He petted the Turtwig and smiled sheepishly.

"But if that's the case then I'll need you two to accompany me to my lab in Sandgem." Rowan added. He turned the other way and Brad motioned for the girls to follow them. Turtwig bounced happily as she and Anna followed the Professor and Brad. They stopped a few minutes later when they realized Justyna had fallen behind. A few more minutes later Justyna arrived, wrestling with an angry, screeching bag.

"I think I'll name her Kisa." Anna stated as they were walking. Kisa, formally Turtwig, rowred her approval. "Are you going to name your pokemon?" Anna asked.

Justyna avoided the question. Chimchar was now walking alongside Brad, much more content. She suddenly remembered that there were three pokeballs stolen.

"What was in that last pokeball? Isn't it Grass, Fire, and Water?"

"Correct," Rowan said, "The last pokeball holds Piplup."

"It's mine now." Brad mumbled, not very excited, "It's the only one left."

Justyna made several unintelligible frantic noises, "What about Chimchar? Wouldn't you rather have it? I think it likes you!"

It did like Brad. Bard explained that as Rowan's assistant, he had cared for all three of the pokemon; Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup. He had wanted Chimchar from the start, and had bonded with him beforehand.

"But you released it. He's yours now." Brad sighed.

"Dude, what about trading?" Justyna inquired desperately.

"I don't think that is such a good idea." Rowan spoke, "Inexperienced trainers can't handle pokemon from trades. They'll disobey you."

"Screw you! I can handle it!" Justyna retorted, "Let us trade!"

They reached Sandgem Town by noon. Rowan's lab was the biggest building there. It wasn't a very big town just a tiny, seaside village with modern architecture. Justyna was introduced to a big shiny trading machine and within fifty seconds the exchange was complete.

"Why do the pokeballs fly up in the air like that?" Justyna asked.

"I don't know. Professor Oak designed this particular model." Rowan said.

Justyna enlarged her pokeball and threw it into the air with a 'w00t!' Out jumped a blue and white feathery penguin.

"YES." Justyna said between clenched teeth, she threw her fists in a fit of awesome, "I got Piplup!"

The piplup looked at her confused.

"She's actually named Riceball." Brad explained, "My little sister helps me out here sometimes and she name the piplup Riceball."

"Jokes," Anna would have cheered if her voice was less monotone, "It's, like, Japanese!"

Fortunately for Anna, this story takes place in Japan.

With both of them happy with their first pokemon, Kisa and Riceball, Rowan informed them of their mission.

"As you can see, I'm not a young man. But I have a dream to collect and study all the pokemon in the world. And I want you three to help me do that." Rowan went to the back of the room and retrieved two pokedexes.

"I'm sure you've heard of these. They collect data on every pokemon you see. The data is more detailed if you catch them, which is what I encourage you all to do." He handed a pink one to Brad and the other black to Anna.

"I presume you will be traveling together?" Anna rolled her eyes and gave an over exaggerated sigh.

Brad stared at his pink pokedex, his expressionless face reflecting in the shiny plastic. "Why do I get stuck with this?"

Rowan gave Brad and Anna another piece of equipment. Both of them were thankfully yellow.

"This is a Pokecatch. It allows you to release pokemon and check their status before you catch them." Rowan explained, "Also, you can send pokemon you don't want to carry with you back here." He motioned out the window where there was a large ranch located near the seaside. "I have also made arrangements with my mentioned friend Oak to house some of them at his lab in Kanto, which is much bigger."

After that long explanation it was just past one o'clock. Brad escorted Anna and Justyna through Sandgem Town, pointing out important building like the Pokemon Center. There was a market in town and Justyna bought an assortment of fruits and cookies there and contained them in a little handheld cooler. Anna was surprised at how much money she brought. Kisa and Riceball skipped after them along with Chimchar. They were all much happier except when Justyna turned around and Chimchar hissed at her. Riceball screeched in the monkey's face with all the veracity of a small blue penguin.

The group soon reached the edge of town. It was still early so Justyna single-handedly made the decision to keep going, and maybe catch some more pokemon.

"That reminds me." Brad said, he reached into his ball and gave Anna four pokeballs and Justyna three.

"Wait, why does she get more?" she questioned. Brad smiled sheepishly.

"I still have to go back to the lab but I'll be right behind you when I start tomorrow. You have my cellphone number don't you Anna?" Brad said, Justyna stifled a laugh, "Right, I'll guess I'll see you two later."

"Best Wishes." Anna said. Brad turned his head back and slowly nodded and walked back into Sandgem. As soon as he was out of sight, Justyna burst out laughing.

"Did you seriously say goodbye to him by saying 'Best Wishes?'"


	5. An Idiot Trades a Shiny for a Cyndaquil

Another gift from Brad to Anna was a map of the Sinnoh region. Justyna was amused.

"The next city is Jublife. It'll take us about two days to get there." Anna informed Justyna. The sun was going down. They had been walking for at least three hours straight. Justyna walked with the march of a battle-bound soldier until she tripped over a log on the forest floor. Riceball, beside her, jumped over the log but fell on her face, mimicking her trainer.

"Oh Justyna." Anna rolled her eyes. Kisa happily bounced on Riceball's back and over a puddle that was in her path.

Minutes after that incident they came out of the trees into a small clearing dotted with rocks. The sky was light purple. Kisa spun around in excitement. There were pokemon noises everywhere.

A flock of starly was feeding in the clearing, pecking at the ground. Justyna attempted to catch one but in an unfortunate turn of events, she and Riceball ended up severely Pecked. Kisa used Razor Leaf on the flock, scaring them into flight. In the confusion, Anna threw a pokeball and retrieved it with a starly inside.

"What are you going to name it?" Justyna asked. Riceball was using the Bubble attack it knew to cool their Peck wounds.

"Starly." Anna replied. She wasn't as fond of making up creative names as Justyna was.

She released her new startled Starly and they continued walking with her sitting nervously on Anna's head.

"If only Andrew could see me now." Anna said, "He'd believe."

The sky could be seen as dark blue through the forest top. The two recently become trainers stopped for the night. Unfortunately due to the poor state of memory of their narrator, they did not bring sleeping bags. Justyna, luckily, preferred sleeping on the grass. Riceball was content sleeping there too because of the forming dew. Starly fell asleep on Anna's head and Kisa beside her. Anna had secretly packed an inappropriate genre of manga and read until she drifted into sleep.

She awoke to find that it had damaged Justyna's innocence.

They had a light breakfast of the fruit Justyna had bought. They would stock up in Jublife, they planned. After walking for most of the morning, they came to yet another clearing. It was much bigger and inhabited by a family of pokemon. Countless shinx raced back and forth across the clearing. Starly returned to her pokeball, being weak against electric types, it made her uncomfortable. Kisa stayed out as did Justyna's only pokemon, Riceball.

Anna tried to hurry through the clearing. Electrocution was probably not very fun. But Justyna wanted to capture one. She and Riceball attacked a large group. By themselves. Oh my.

The shinx attacked back with a wave of Spark. Riceball dodged them by jumping around the rocks in the clearing and blew bubbly bubbles. One particular shinx jumped from the crowd and bite Riceball's head. Kisa Tackled the shinx away. Like trainers, like pokemon. The shinx targeted the turtwig now. Anna commanded Kisa against it. The tough shinx was very fast but when it Tackled Kisa, it wasn't very strong. Comparison, Kisa was like a small, hundred pound rock. Or a sumo wrestler, as she next jumped into the air and flattened the shinx. Anna considered and decided. She threw her second pokeball and successfully caught the shinx. She named him Shinx.

Justyna had fought with the rest of the family of shinx and had caught one too by spazzing out and throwing a pokeball very hard at the group. It hit one in the head and captured it while it was in trauma.

She released hers along with Anna's but instead of being blue with black fur like Anna's, it was yellow. It looked like a bee.

"I think you just caught a shiny." Anna stated in her monotone voice.

"Awesome!"

"That's pretty jokes."

The two shinx, Shinx and Shard, were introduced to Starly and after two hours of walking through the woods, she was able be around them without having a fit of flight. Easily. Justyna and her two pokemon walked ahead in long strides as if it were a parade. Anna walked behind them slowly with Starly on her head and the others on her side.

Anan later remembered Rowan's words and they caught each caught another pokemon as data for the pokedex. Anna caught a paralyzed kricketot and Justyna, a soaked bidoof. Both were unnamed and returned to Rowan using the Pokecatch.

"I don't like bidoofs." Justyna mumbled, "And I'm out of pokeballs…"

"I got onlyone…" Anna said. They couldn't wait to buy more so that this technicality would no longer inconvenience their narrator.

She proceeded to attack random bidoofs with Riceball and Shard if they spotted one while walking. It was good training, Riceball learned Peck and Shard gained the speed to run up a tree and fall.

On one important occasion they attacked a bidoof targeted by another trainer. They hadn't seen anyone on the way yet. It was like a plot contrivance. The trainer was a young but tall boy named Luke. He seemed nice, Anna thought, until he started hanging over Justyna and Shard, jealous of his shininess. He asked for it and Justyna gave him a hearty slap on the back. Her arm was ridiculously heavy. Luke offered a trade. He showed them his only pokemon, a cowardly cyndaquil. Her unimaginable cuteness made Justyna do her happy dance. Luke laughed rudely but got his trade. The Pokecatch had it as a useful feature.

"Wait before we trade, name your cyndaquil." Justyna said.

"Why?" Luke asked.

"She'll be mine after this and I want her to have a nickname."

"Like what?"

That wasted about thirty minutes.

"Name her Makowca!"

The pokemon were traded and Luke ran off whooping and being decepticonian.

Makowca was reluctant to follow them at first but eventually Justyna managed to scoop her up for a big confidence boost. They kept walking with their pokemon until the sun went down. Once again, without sleeping bags, they slept in the grass. Makowca and Riceball were curled up on the ends Justyna's scarf, which nearly choked her when she stood up in the morning.

It was early and they walked the rest of the short way to Jublife City.


	6. They Meet an Emo

The first thing Justyna sought out was food. Anna wasn't really hungry. They roamed the bustling streets of morning Jublife with their small pokemon all by their sides or on their heads. Justyna ran off at one point when she found a diner.

"Dude! They have waffles!" Riceball and Makowca rolled on the ground in excitement.

Inside was busy with people and pokemon. There were two pichu running around with a large platter serving the tables and there were frustrated screeches from the kitchen. The hostess seated them in a booth near the window behind a stranger in black.

"Feel free to have your pokemon out." the hostess said, "We have a special menu with food for them."

That menu was left untouched. Justyna ordered waffles like she wanted and insisted her pokemon try them too. There were soon three platters of waffles. Anna ordered a sandwich like she would have at home. Kisa received apples and Starly and Shinx semi-shared waffles with Riceball and Makowca who still seemed a bit shy of them.

"What's with all the colourful watches?" Justyna noticed. Many of the customers were trainers too and were wearing them as Justyna observed.

"Those are Poketechs. They're pretty convenient; lots of people have them." They looked over the booth to the one over. It was the stranger in black. Though stranger can be a bit sexist. It was the strangette in black.

The exited the diner with her. The girls' pokemon stayed on their trainers' right side away from the strangette. The emoness was overpowering.

"I'm Dawn." she said, "Do you guys live here?"

"No. We don't." Anna said. "You would know."

"We are awesome pokemon trainers from the town of Twinleaf." Justyna stated dramatically. She even made a pose. Her pokemon backed her up with their own.

"I see." Dawn replied. She was smiling but her emoness clouded her thoughts.

Dawn was their tour guide through Jublife. Unlike Brad, she explained stuff in a long manner. Which is boring enough without having to write and then read it as well.

"Are you a trainer? You have a Poketech." Justyna asked, interrupting Dawn's explanation of the inside of Jublife's TV Station. Anna wondered why they didn't go inside.

"No, I'm not. My dad owns the Poketech business. I get these for free." Dawn explained like she did.

"In that case, can we have some?" Anna asked. She was just joking but her sarcastic tone was masked by her monotone pitch. Dawn happily obliged either way.

"Gyes!" Justyna exclaimed, "I want a blue one!"

She got a lovely sapphire one and Anna received a crimson one. She didn't ask but she was lucky because red was her favorite color.

"Thanks Dawn." Anna said politely, "You're purple."

"Purple...?" Dawn asked slowly. She was unsure whether to be blissfully grateful or be understandably offended.

"Yeah. The good kind of purple!" Justyna added. Kisa and Riceball ran in circles, unnoticed yelling 'Purple!' in their pokemon language. And so it became.

There they parted ways. Dawn waved goodbye and it was only after she disappeared did Justyna yell in frustration.

"We should have asked her to come with us!"

"But she doesn't have pokemon."

"We could have at least gotten her cellphone number."

"True."

The rest of the early afternoon was spent at the market. Justyna bought even more fruit. They were selling pokemon food by the bags but it looked disgusting.

"Food pellets are for owls and other birdish creatures." she stated.

Starly Pecked her head in a meek rage. Justyna's scarf attacked Starly with Wrap.

Anna bought a small fridge like Justyna's and filled it with bread and sandwich components. She stuffed it in her stuffed-animal bag. Which reminded her of something else.

"We should buy some sleeping bags." Anna pointed out, "I think I saw a sports store when Dawn was with us."

"I don't wanna carry around a sleeping bag. We'll look stupid." Justyna said, whispering the last part.

"Would you rather sleep on the ground?"

"Maybe. And wouldn't the sleeping bags already be on the ground?" Anna rolled her eyes.

They stopped at a Pokemart, like Brad had showed them in Sandgem Town. They were apparently everywhere. They bought some potions and full heals. Actually Justyna did. She surprisingly had lots of money left. Anna's mom hadn't given her A LOT more money before she left Twinleaf. They also bought some repels, just in case. And of course pokeballs, for which Anna used her trusty sewing kit to make a special pocket for in her bag. After that Justyna had a little less from what she had started with.

They visited the Pokemon Center. The Nurse Joy there healed their pokemon. She was everywhere too according to Brad. They used the computer phone there to call their parents. After help from her new adorable pokemon, Justyna's mom was persuaded and used fancy technological means to send her daughter more money for the debit card she had with her.

"How much money does it have now?" Anna asked.

"All that I've been saving."

"How much is that?"

The answer could have killed a man. In further apparent terms, Justyna received lots of money from her father on occasions and she was too lazy to spend it.

"And it piles up with interest and crack." Justyna added, "I'll get some from an ATM later. I don't think we'll need it until the next city."

After a reassuring call to Anna's mom, and more reassurment that she wanted to be a pokemon trainer, they left the Pokemon Center. Justyna's pokemon returned to their pokeballs, still tired despite being recently healed. Shinx and Starly were also recalled. Only Kisa stayed outside, she had attacked its pokeball when Anna attempted to recall her. In excessive apparent terms, Kisa didn't like being in a pokeball. It was darkening and Anna decided that it was too late to start traveling again. They would start in the morning.

"Are we still gonna buy sleeping bags before we head out? Because I really don't want to carry one around." Justyna said.

"We'll still-"

"Isn't that Dawn?" Justyna interrupted. She pointed at someone running around the back of a building and down an alley. It was Dawn indeed.

"Where's she going?" Anna pondered.

"We shall see!" Justyna exclaimed. She pointed randomly at the sky. Kisa followed her direction but didn't see anything.

She pulled Anna around the corner and pursued Dawn as inconspicuously as she could. Dawn took a very complicated but hidden maze through the buildings. Anna hoped they could later find their way back.

Dawn unnoticingly led them to a steel fence at the far edge of the big city. She climbed over it to the forest on the other side. When she wasn't looking, Justyna scurried up the fence and jumped over to the ground. She grunted at the short pain of landing on her bad footing. Anna made sure Dawn wasn't in view and told Kisa to use Razor Leaf. The leaves cut the diamond steel fence and left a hole big enough for her and Kisa. Justyna wondered why she wasted so much energy when she could have saved it for being unnecessarily spontaneous at random intervals.

They spotted Dawn's black attire moving through the trees. Just barely. They continued to follow her as the sky became darker. The forest started to thin into a small clearing where stood an old house. It could be compared to the Shack introduced in the third of Anna's favorite book series. Dawn had a backpack with her. She put in down and took out a chocolate chip cookie. Justyna quietly whimpered for the cookie. She and Anna saw Dawn call out, 'Paul!' From the window of the decrepit shack flew out a little purple(literally) creature. It looked like a blanket blowing around it the breeze. It was a shuppet. It flew tiny circles around Dawn in greeting but quickly settled down and proceeded to eat the cookie. Dawn gave an emo smile and the shuppet spun emoly with her.

Anna smiled. It cute.

"HI DAWN!"

"Oh Justyna." Anna's forehead smacked a log.


	7. The Emo Joins the Team

"What happened to stealth?" Anna asked Justyna.

"What?"

Paul the shuppet flew back inside the shack. Dawn called for him to come back but he refused to reemerge. Anna, Justyna and Kisa stepped out of their hiding place.

"I thought you said you didn't have any pokemon." Anna said.

"Well, I haven't caught any in pokeballs. Technically I don't have any."

"Technology doesn't matter!" Justyna exclaimed, "You and Paul are trainer and pokemon from now on!"

Anna and Kisa ignored Justyna's rash comment. For the next hour they sat with Dawn and Paul, who came out again when it got even darker, and listened to their story.

Dawn met the shuppet about five years ago. Dawn was returning from school after staying long after to finish her homework. It was winter and the sky was already black. Nocturnal pokemon were out and one of them, a shuppet, was drawn to Dawn's emitting emo aura. Dawn explained the Paul always felt weird vibes and sensed bad things. The shuppet followed her until she couldn't just ignore him. So she named him Paul and befriended him.

"He actually got me interested in all kinds of stuff." Dawn said, "I research pokemon techniques and tactics all the time, Paul's attacks were so pretty. Sometimes I came here and he had some pokemon friends with him…"

Anna sat quietly and listened. Justyna asked some questions but for the most part it was just Dawn talking. After she had finished, another rash decision was made.

"You have to come with us, Dawn." Anna said. Kisa was stunned.

"You know a lot about pokemon and you and Paul would seriously make a great team." Anna continued, "And I think that the three of us and our pokemon would make the most made-of-awesome team ever."

Justyna smiled and wiped away a tear.

"Right now, I'm going home." Dawn replied.

The narrator's sense of time is not the best. It was already after midnight.

"Aren't your parents going to be, like, really mad?" Justyna asked.

"I don't really like the Sun. They know I go out at night." Dawn replied, "That's also how they don't know about Paul."

She left. Paul returned to the shack. Anna and Justyna and Kisa stood in the clearing. Justyna was getting a big smile on her face.

"Dude, I know what we should do!" she squealed to Anna.

"Oh shmoople." Anna rolled her eyes.

They returned to Jublife and thanks to Justyna's recharged debit card were able to get two very nice rooms in an expensive hotel. The next morning, they asked around for directions to Dawn's house. She had said her father owned the Poketech Company; someone was bound to know where she lived. They eventually found her house. It was very big and more humorously, it was orange. A servant answered the door and showed them in.

Please feel free to imagine the glorious, fancy inside. Okay, there was a grand staircase and THREE chandeliers and a floor that was so clean, it was like a mirror.

They asked for Dawn's father. The servant rushed off and left them standing in the front hall.

"Do you think Dawn won't mind?" Anna asked seriously. She was nervous. And furthermore she didn't want to upset Dawn with Justyna's plan.

"Of course." Justyna answered after breaking down the sentence. She was smiling widely in anticipation.

"What are you doing in my house?" It was Dawn. She called them from the top of the stairs. She was utterly shocked and bewildered.

"Indeed." A man in a bathrobe made his way down the stairs.

"We're Dawn's friends." Anna explained when Justyna didn't say anything. She didn't expect to be talking to someone in a bathrobe. But she went on after Anna.

"Mr. Dawn's Dad," Justyna bowed, "We would like Dawn to join our team."

"Your team? What team?"

"We will one day be great pokemon masters and we would like your daughter with us." She pointed randomly at the ceiling. Dad's father rolled his eyes and turned his attention on them again. Dawn was suddenly in front of him.

"Father, I apologize. Don't listen to them. Or at least the one with the scarf."

"Dawn that's rude!" Justyna exclaimed putting her hands on her hips, "You and your shuppet are joining me and Anna and you two will be awesome!"

It was quiet. Dawn stared at them both in what could have been anger, the emoness made it hard to tell. Then Mr. Dawn's Dad started laughing. Dawn was shocked once again.

"You already have a pokemon?"

"Well I didn't catch it…" Dawn's father stepped forward and put a pokeball in her hand. Dawn was shocked for the third time.

"I always thought you would be a great trainer. You're very smart." He said, "And all the places you would be able to see. It's everything I ever wanted for you."

Dawn looked at her father with tears in her eyes.

"Now get out of your emo corner and become a trainer!"

That evening, Anna and Justyna waited outside of Dawn's house. They had called Professor Rowan and he agreed to look after the pokemon that Dawn sent back as well as theirs. Dawn was happy to help them help Rowan complete the pokedex. In fact, Justyna decided that she would be the keeper of the pokedex.

"It's black like my soul." Dawn had replied, smiling.

Dawn emerged from her house with a black backpack but otherwise, the same black pants and jacket she always wore. And under that jacket was a secret periwinkle shirt.

"I think you're gonna have to get used to sunlight." Anna said.

"Fear not! We'll travel during the night!" Justyna proclaimed.

"Let's not do that." Dawn said and walked ahead with Anna.

They followed her along a less complicated route to the forest, to the clearing to shack to shuppet. Paul flew out again but didn't come and greet Dawn like he did before. He felt the change that had come over. Anna and Justyna hid in the bushes watching Dawn. She approached Paul and held out her pokeball in her palm.

There was more quiet. (So much quiet is bad for your health)

Paul spun and flipped and poked the pokeball with the horn on its head. He entered the pokeball and was caught.

Justyna jumped from the bushes and glomped Dawn. Anna hugged Dawn too.

"That was super special awesome!"

Paul came out some minutes later. He didn't like being in the pokeball, but at least now he was officially Dawn's pokemon. Kisa joined them after a whole day inside her pokeball and the five of them were off into the night.


	8. The Psyduck That Couldn't Swim

Despite the late hour, Justyna insisted on making the moment last. Dawn and Paul were used to staying up late and Justyna was pumped up, but Kisa fell asleep and Anna was left to carry her heavy Turtwig behind her friends, the narrator apparently forgetting about the existence of pokeballs. They walked through the late hours of the night and decided to make camp a couple hours before the Sun came up.

Dawn had brought three thin but warm sleeping bags, one for each of them, but Justyna, keeping to her word preferred, to sleep on the grass. Dawn and Anna each took a sleeping bag and the third was slept on by their released pokemon.

Anna woke up after noon the next day. After all, since the day they confronted dawn's dad and had her join their team, she had stayed up for, like, twenty-one hours. Dawn and Anna had been up hours before her and were playing with the pokemon. Actually, Justyna and the pokemon were playing. Dawn and Paul sat in the shade of a tree reading Emily Dickinson.

Anna made a sandwich breakfast and Justyna ate more fruit(you wonder how she stays up with no bread-carbs). Dawn was reluctant to eat Anna's food, she didn't want to freeload or anything, but she did eat when Paul ate a cheese and ham sandwich.

Then they continued. The Sun was up and shining like a seventy watt light bulb in a forty watt lamp. It took a while for Dawn and Paul to get used to the intense Sun but they did and managed to avoid a trip back to Jublife with a case of heat stroke. Too bad that emos have to wear black.

It was a forest route that Anna's map said led to a city called Oreburgh. Anna caught a budew on their first day on the route using her Starly. It was sent back to Rowan. The Pokecatch really was a convenient device. Life without it would leave many trainers utterly frustrated. With some pointers, Dawn caught an abra. She was lucky to have Paul, his Shadow Sneak attack caught it off guard and pretty much killed it. The Pokecatch came in handy once more.

They walked until it started to get dark and Dawn asked for them to stop for the day. She and Paul needed to recharge their emoness. They had been depressing all day.

They let out all their pokemon again and Anna, Dawn, and company got to enjoy dinner and a match between Riceball and Makowca the cyndaquil. Justyna told them that learning to pay attention to two things would make her a better trainer. Upon question she was not sure how. Makowca surprisingly won with a very impressive Flamethrower attack. She squeaked in confidence.

"That guy Luke must have been a good trainer." Anna commented, remembering Makowca's origin.

"Pshpiffle! This was all me." Justyna said.

The next day was eventful. They walked until the afternoon until they found a pond. It was quite big and teeming with pokemon. They were all pokemon they had already caught so Justyna wasn't chasing anything. They could relax.

Then it got eventful. Riceball was swimming in the water and was jumped by a psyduck. Paul immediately flew in to rescue the piplup with his unexplainable floating. The psyduck appeared to be drowning. Anna stepped into the pond and picked it up and carried it out of the water. Justyna was busy fussing over Riceball and Dawn apparently couldn't swim.

The rest of the afternoon was spent giving swim lessons to the little psyduck and Dawn. The lessons were led by Justyna, who was the only one with a water pokemon and had been on a swimming team for half a season. She quit because competition was hebetudinous. It fits, I guess. Wait…

At one point during the lesson, Paul floated away and looked out to the horizon, which was covered by rocks. Anna's map revealed it to be the Oreburgh Tunnel. There was smoke coming up from the other side. But only Paul noticed it and he shivered with bad vibes.

Psyduck learned to swim fairly well by the end of that day, thanks to Anna's translations of Justyna's overcomplicated instruction. Dawn was still helpless in the water. Paul's buoyancy in the air proved helpful in water as well.

The Sun was about to drop behind the mountain and they decided to travel a bit more. Justyna only let Makowca stay out and they ran ahead, pulling Dawn and Paul behind them. When Dawn was able to convince Justyna to stop, they started to turn back to get Anna. She was right behind them with Kisa and the psyduck at one side.

"It found one of my pokeballs." Anna said, "Then it followed me when I let it out."

Dawn quickly recorded the psyduck's data with the pokedex. She pulled it out of her jacket like a gun. A very emo gun. The Pokecatch however was untouched.

"He's kind of cute." Anna said.

They walked on until the Sun was gone and they made camp near the side of the mountain where the Oreburgh Tunnel began. Feeling confident form the night before, Justyna challenged Anna and her new Psyduck to a battle. Dawn, Paul, and Kisa watched the battle go back and forth. Psyduck's Water Gun attack was holding up well against Makowca's Flamethrower. It completely overwhelmed it and sent Makowca flying. Justyna raised her voice to heighten her (Makowca's)self-esteem and the unsure-before cyndaquil jumped back to her paws and started to glow white.

"Holy shit, cyndaquil's evolving!" Justyna exclaimed. Anna laughed.

Makowca grew bigger and the white dissolved and she was a quilava. Justyna did her happy dance and Makowca's head and butt burst with joyful flames. Because she knew they wouldn't expect it, Anna ordered her Psyduck to attack. Makowca was completely soaked. So much for that confidence boost.

"Anna! How could you?" Justyna exclaimed again.

"That's for beating me on AP Test."

Dawn clapped and Paul spun in emo circles.

"You're monotone makes you sound really sinister." Dawn complimented her.

Justyna was mad and refused to eat. She sat behind a tree with Makowca and Riceball. Anna, Dawn and their pokemon all enjoyed sandwiches and fell asleep.

Paul woke up in the dark and noticed that there was still a string of smoke rising from the other side of the tunnel. Smoke along with a very lonely and devastated aura.


	9. Paul is Awesome

The next morning they continued their journey through the Tunnel of Oreburgh. It was exceptionally rocky. And very dark. This pleased Paul and Dawn. But not little Kisa.

Even though she was by now used to the Sun, the darkness gave Dawn a boost of happiness. It was like someone gave her steroids packed with spontaneity. Paul seemed a bit livelier but seemed to be thinking about something else. Dawn, as explained, was preoccupied.

"I thought emo people were supposed to be depressing." Anna commented.

"Not at all! It depends! You guys could be emo if you wanted to.' She replied.

"Yes please!" Justyna said jumping up and down.

"It'll cost you though." Dawn said with a sneaky smile on her face.

"We'll pay it!" Justyna replied not taking into account Anna's finances.

Dawn said that it would be an amount in yen equaling twenty American dollars per lesson; there were apparently five, so that meant a hundred dollars in yen for each of them. Justyna accepted for both. Anna dragged her ignorant friend away and whispered angrily.

"I don't have eleven thousand and fifty four yen!" she hissed.

"Relax, Dawn's kidding."

"Do you know that for sure?"

"She's got to be kidding."

"And if she's not…?"

"Don't be a wimp, she's obviously joking!"

Anna got very offended and Justyna sighed and gave Dawn her debit card.

"You can take off twenty-two thousand, one hundred and eight yen from that when you get to Oreburgh." She said, looking over to Anna standing in the corner holding Kisa.

"I wasn't actually going to force you to pay me," Dawn said laughing, "I was kidding."

Anna was relieved. Her previous anticipation left Kisa squished.

They walked through the Tunnel as Dawn gave them their first lesson. She gave them paper and they wrote down things true and false about emo people, using only their current knowledge. After two hours (do you know how difficult it is to write while walking in a dark cave?) they gave Dawn their finished list and they stopped to snack and check it over under a lightful hole in the ceiling. Like Dawn said, it all depended. Most of what they wrote was neither right nor wrong but dependable. That's how they got most of their points. The other things that did not depend, they had surprisingly put in the correct section.

"A common misconception about emos is that they cut themselves. I'm glad you guys realized that."

Before they could start Part Two of Emo Lessons, they ran into a small group walking through the Tunnel. From the moment they saw each other they knew they were trainers and leaped into battle. Paul tugged Dawn over to the side while Justyna and Anna stood before the group of five trainers. Justyna released Riceball and Makowca both. Anna let out Starly and Psyduck, Kisa was tired from th dark and the environment didn't suit Shinx. Riceball and Makowca attacked at once, the other trainer hadn't even sent out his pokemon. He threw his pokeball at Makowca's face as a reaction and the quilava ended up under a geodude. And just for laughs, the trainer ordered it to roll back and forth over her. Makowca would have some back problems in the future. Another trainer sent out a bidoof and him and the previous trainer fought Justyna at once.

"Great, I hate bidoofs."

Anna fought rationally with one trainer at a time. The first sent out a machop and a meditite and Anna quickly dealt with her Starly. The next sent out a larger pokemon, a ponyta. Although Psyduck could have easily defeated it, Anna decided to try her luck with Starly again. Starly's speed and advantage over the wingless pokemon was leading to her next victory.

Justyna was pulling her now vengeance-full Makowca off the geodude when Starly started to glow white. Psyduck looked away in jealousy.

"Starly's evolving!" Dawn explained from a corner. Paul spun in happy circles.

Starly grew bigger and flew in circles until she was Staravia. Talk about contrivance. Staravia spun and attacked the ponyta with a new move so fast that Anna didn't have time to do her happy dance. The ponyta fell over and was hit with the geodude Makowca and Riceball had thrown in anger.

Thanks to lots of whining, Psyduck got to go up against the next and last trainer who sent out a roselia who enjoyed spinning and throwing around purple flowers. Dawn and Paul took shelter behind a rock. Psyduck's clumsiness had him whipped across the cave, blinded with petunias in the sky, and thrown against Dawn and Paul's shelter rock. Anna recalled him and sent out her Shinx, since Staravia was gloating and Kisa was listening. Shinx was fast and used to the cave formations to bounce around the room and catch the roselia off guard with an accelerated Tackle attack followed by Bite. The roselia fell and Dawn quietly finished recording the pokemon they just saw with her emo pokedex.

After, they continued through the cave with only Kisa and Paul out. Justyna had completely forgotten about the emo lessons and neither Anna nor Dawn felt like reminding her.

They exited the cave and it was only after the afternoon. Justyna skipped merrily ahead and Dawn and Anna and Kisa after her. With their further unnotice, Paul floated behind and gazed at the trees in the direction of a very sad aura. Paul looked ahead, floated still, and closed his eyes.

Justyna suddenly stopped and looked to the leftt, she didn't know really why. Dawn and Anna followed her gaze and saw a big mansion through the trees, positions on a green cliffside. _That came out of nowhere, _they thought.

Justyna excitedly started running towards the house, Anna and Dawn had no choice but to follow.

There was a great front lawn, where Kisa happily rested among many flowers. Justyna admired the house. Dawn looked towards the mountain on the left side of the house.

"The house hardly looks depressing." She told Anna.

The front door opened, surprising Justyna as if she expected no one to live in such a big and well-treated manor. It was a small boy in very nice schoolboy clothes; they even looked a little Victorian. He motioned for them to come in. Kisa stayed sleeping among the flowers.

Inside it was very fancy. I mean, REALLY fancy. Dawn was not amused. The boy led them into a ballroom. Justyna followed him inside while Anna and Dawn stayed outside the door.

"That kid creeps me out." Dawn whispered. He hadn't said a word. His eyes had showed no emotion.

"He reminds me of my little sister." Anna whispered back.

They saw the boy sit down in the center of the room and hold something up in his hand. The rest was blocked when Justyna stood in front of him. The rest hardly took any time at all.

Justyna ran out with something the boy had given her. A pokeball. No, a Luxury Ball

"Dude, he gave me a thing!"

"You can't just take that!" Dawn exclaimed.

"I said he gave it to me."

"Did he say so?" Anna asked.

"Well I guess that's what-" Justyna started but stopped when she turned back to look in the room and the boy was not there. She shrieked and started running. Dawn and Anna thought she was overreacting until they realized that the ballroom had no other exits but the one they were standing in. All three idiots ran outside screaming. Anna nearly forgot to grab Kisa off the lawn before running back into the woods.

Once they settled down, Anna said they should go back and apologize. Screaming in big houses was very rude. They turned to go back but fell silent because they were positive that the house had been visible from the trees a few seconds ago.

" Shup. Shup." Came from behind them.

They were utterly confused. "Was Paul with us when we went inside?"

Paul spun in happy circles around Justyna. She realized she was still holding the ball. She threw it and released a small riolu. He looked at them with big sad eyes. He was shaking covered in black powder; Dawn luckily had brought her duster. The riolu flinched at the touch. He was wearing a dark red collar. It read 'Riley' in fancy letters. Justyna picked the small pokemon up and hugged him rather forcibly.

"He's so cute!"

After the previous series of events, they decided not to revisit the mansion. They walked towards Oreburgh, which was visible down below from the hill. Justyna held the nervous riolu in her hands, Kisa walked with Anna and Paul followed Dawn.

"Ya know what's ironic?" Justyna said, "I always wanted a riolu!"

Paul knew.

Kisa snorted at the faint smell of ash.


	10. Coal is Saved and People Go Crazy

They arrived in Oreburgh at high afternoon.

Justyna's newly acquired riolu jumped from her arms but she just picked him up again, Kisa and Paul were worried. They walked through the rocky city's rocky streets, stopping at a Pokemart to buy some Supa Potions and more pokeballs. They went to the Pokemon Center, routine habits don't die. The Nurse Joy healed their pokemon and recommended a bath for Riley. The riolu was still dark with mysterious ash. They were directed to a hot spring in town. Water flowed from rocks, and Oreburgh was rocky as Anna's mind was skewed. Justyna had conveniently brought her one-piece black swimsuit with her. Dawn and Anna spent an hour looking through the local store for some. By sheer coincidence, they both bought a blue and dark blue two piece swimsuit.

"It isn't that expensive." Anna's reason.

"It looks foreboding." Dawn's reason.

The pokemon got their own little pool. Riceball and Psyduck were having a splash fight which soon included Shinx and Kisa. Makowca lay calmly at the edge of the pool but joined in later and Staravia floated on the water like a duck. Paul wandered off because of the exhausting heat.

Anna and Dawn came to the pool after changing into their swimsuits to find Justyna and a struggling Riley in murky water.

"He was really dirty." Justyna said, scrubbing her pokemon with _Dove._

Dawn and Anna found a different pool.

The springs were part of a spa part of a hotel. Justyna paid for rooms for each of them and after long hours of soaking, they got out and went to bed.

The next morning, Anna woke up at noon. Her pokemon had woke up and went across the hall to Justyna's room, which was significantly bigger, to play with her pokemon. But Justyna was GONE. Dawn and Paul were missing too.

Anna grabbed some breakfast and quickly called her friends. She vaguely imagined Justyna running around looking for her and Dawn, if they were in each other's positions. Justyna was out looking at the pretty rocks Oreburgh had to sell. What else? Dawn had discovered the Museum and they agreed to meet there.

An hour later they all met at the Museum. It displayed rocks. Justyna's sarcasm went to view the outside exhibit. Anna and Kisa followed Dawn around the Museum. She and Paul were very interested in rocks. Especially the big block of coal displayed as a centerpiece.

"What do you suppose would happen if that fell on someone?" Anna wondered aloud.

"People would die." Dawn replied. Paul spun happily at the dark emo humor.

At the back of the Museum they met a strange man with dorky glasses and a lab coat. He talked very fast and with aggressiveness. It was as if Justyna had not left. He was talking to a group of little kids about fossils. But they were asking too many questions and he shouted and they ran off and would later return with angry mothers. Dawn and Anna overheard most of it and could not avoid being spotted by the man. Paul hid behind Dawn and Kisa jumped behind Anna. He came over and started talking very excitedly and almost nothing was intelligible. Anna and Dawn stood and said nothing, as if he might not notice they existed and soon stop talking to air and leave. He didn't and kept talking until he realized something and shooed Anna and Dawn away; they understood that he said the words 'no fossils.'

"Let's go find Justyna." Anna suggested, a little creeped out.

"That's probably a good idea." Dawn said.

Justyna was gone once again. They were about to make a round of the shops when Justyna ran up to them. Her riolu was with her, now walking semi-calmly beside her.

"Dude!...huffpuff…there's a coal mine in town!" she pointed somewhere behind her.

"Didn't you say you didn't like rocks?" Dawn inquired.

"There's all these rock pokemon there!" she said after a quick recovery, "It's an awesome place to train! Plus you can dig for stuff!"

"What kind of stuff?" Anna asked.

"I don't know but we have to get some!"

As if they had a choice. Anna and Dawn followed Justyna and lil' Riley to the coal mine. Along the way they passed a big fancy house, made of a nice pure rock. They were almost around the corner when they realized that Paul was missing. Then Justyna realized Riley was gone too.

The two mentioned were staring at the fancy house. Riley glowed slightly blue with angry aura.

"Shuppet." Paul told him wisely.

The little riolu stopped his glowing and sat down in a slump. He put his paws over his eyes to cry as Paul floated to him comfortingly. Riley was then suddenly scooped up by fast but gentle hands.

"There you are!" Justyna laughed. She hugged him a little more gently this time and threw him up in the air playfully, only to catch him again. The startled riolu was put on the ground and continued to follow his new trainer with an aura Paul sensed to be 94 to the 54 power happier. As they walked away, Paul looked back and went, " Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhp," a shuppet raspberry at the house.

The coal mine's entrance was very rocky.

Inside they were given cool miners' hats. Justyna released Riceball to join Riley and Anna set out her Psyduck to help Kisa. They marched through the cave, examining the walks for stuff to take. Riceball uncovered a pretty glowing stone, that later turned out to be a moonstone. Dawn discovered zubats but thanks to Paul, was only mentally scarred. Justyna and Riley quickly caught one zubat and used the Pokecatch, and then later they literally stumbled upon a geodude and caught it as well. Riley was a young pokemon but knew some good moves like Force Palm and Aura Sphere.

"I once read that riolu can only learn that through breeding." Dawn said, "It must be of a high pedigree."

"You know pedigree sounds almost like pedicure." Justyna quickly replied.

Anna, Dawn and their pokemon were like WTF?

They got to the main part of the cave where the mine's actual workers were. Dawn and Paul eagerly examined the huge block of coal in the middle of the room.

"Rocks fall…" Anna whispered to herself. Kisa nodded gravely. Paul flinched.

"GUYS!" Justyna called from across the cave. Anna and Dawn reluctantly went over. Justyna was talking with a worker, or so it seemed.

"Dude! This town has a Gym!"

"No shmoople" Anna said.

"Yeah! And this guy's the leader! You're Roark right?"

"Yes. That I am." He said sheepishly.

He was very nice. He showed Dawn and Paul the finer parts of the coal block. Which is weird cause to me, every coal piece looks the same. They got to the topic of a Gym battle and the discussion of Anna and Justyna's dual entry.

"I would gladly, battle you in a double battle." Roark said, "Just come by the Gym."

Justyna was psyched. And Riley seemed to have developed a happy dance of his own.

Roark soon left, as he said he needed to tend to his rock gardens at the Gym, so Anna and Justyna decided to train a little. With their water, fight, and grass type pokemon, it was like going through a video game with a bunch of cheat codes. As their pokemon began to near exhaustion, which took a while given their advantages, they decided to go back to their hotel. It took a while to pull Dawn and Paul away from the coal block.

They were about to exit the coal block room when a sudden pulse shook the cave. Paul looked somewhere off it the distance, and Riley followed his gaze. Before their trainers noticed it, a hoard of onix crashed through the wall that Riley and Paul had been staring at. Most of the workers fled to the other side of the room. Anna and company were about to join them when suddenly, one of the onix bashed itself against the coal block. Dawn gasped a gasp of true concern and Paul had a jaw drop moment. The workers on the other side started to get frantic.

"They're attacking the coal!"

Justyna jumped to the front of the group and exclaimed, pointing at the onix, "Go! Riceball! Use Splash attack! Oh wait, you don't know Splash. Okay, use Bubble Attack!"

Riceball fired a huge array of bubbles at the onix. Justyna cheered and ordered Riley to attack as well.

"Be logical! You're pokemon are exhausted!' Dawn called but went unheard.

Anna quickly stepped up to help Justyna with Kisa and Psyduck. Kisa sent the biggest Razor Leaf she could manage and Psyduck used Water Gun. Most of the onix recoiled and slithered out the way they came, but one of them was abnormally big and almost unphased by the attacks. It swept its tail across the floor and knocked Riley away. Riceball jumped up like it was a game of helicopter. Kisa and Psyduck were too far away to get hit, but immediately ran up to help. Psyduck fought his constant headache and helped Riley up while Kisa stood with Riceball to attack again. The onix threw its head around in rage and attacked the coal again. The workers were freaking out.

"Where's Roark?"

"All of you be quiet! We got this!" Justyna shouted back aggressively.

Riley and Psyduck were blown away by another tail sweep. Kisa and Riceball stood like two gladiators, and the onix was the emperor who was like, 'just die already!'

As they were preparing for another attack, Riceball started to glow white. Justyna started her happy dance early and continued even when Riceball was knocked away by another tail sweep, fore she landed as a prinpulp. She stood up triumphantly.

Riceball ran and jumped and attacked the onix with Metal Claw. Kisa followed it up with a powerful Tackle Attack. The onix began to withdraw and Justyna quickly whipped out a duskball and threw it at the onix. It was successfully caught. Riceball and Kisa collapsed from exhaustion.

The workers apologized for their pessimistic behavior and helped carry Riceball to the pokemon center. It was too tired to get back in its pokeball; Anna was lucky to have a smaller pokemon. With their pokemon healed but still exhausted, they went back to their hotel and ordered very fancy room service.

That night, they dreamed of carving their onix.


	11. My Onix is Your Onix

Anna put all her faith into her Psyduck while Justyna gave Riley a pep talk involving lots of noise and party favors. Luckily, their hotel's gift shop sold them. Dawn rested on the bed with Paul floating over her book.

It was the time of their first gym battle.

It was about 12 o'clock the afternoon, or more specifically the evening, when they left the hotel to barge into the gym for a match. Anna's slow and carefree attitude kept her quiet the whole way. Dawn is always silent. Justyna only talked rapidly about plans and strategies that neither Dawn nor Anna thought she could think of. Surprisingly she was quite nervous.

"It'll be fine." Dawn said, and then cheerfully added, "And if you lose you can become a miner!" They were passing the Coal Mine Entrance.

"Dawn's right." Anna agreed.

Justyna said, :(

The gym was built of rocks. They entered and were immediately met by a brown haired man with big glasses. He smiled widely and looked at them fondly. The trio shuffled by, waving slightly.

Supposedly the gym was supposed to be a maze made by huge rocks but since they were pretty much bored of the dull rocky atmosphere of the city, Justyna cast out Riceball and Riley, and Anna Psyduck and Kisa, and they obliterated the maze in about 5 minutes. When the dust cleared, they had a clear view of Roark sitting on a big chair, a rocky chair, saying :(

"Alright." He finally said, "Two on two like we agreed?"

"Gyes."

"Alright!"

It turned Roark had a fancy stadium in the back of the gym with bleachers and a fancy referee in black and yellow stripes. The room was built out of quartz.

"We ran out of rocks." Roark shrugged.

"Quartz is the most abundant mineral on the planet." Dawn said. Geez, what a nerd.

Dawn, Paul, and their not-currently-to-be-fighting pokemon sat in the bleachers. Riceball and Makowca were very passionate in their cheers.

"Don't burn my quartz!" Roark whined.

Psyduck, Riley, and their respective trainers stood on one side of the field and on the other stood Roark, preparing to send out his own pokemon. The Referee Bee announced the rules, which no one listened to because they had common sense. Roark quickly threw out two pokeballs, one from which came an onix and from another a cranidos. Dawn pulled out her pokedex again and aimed it at the cranidos.

Justyna's nervousness suddenly disappeared and her pre-immediate reflexes activated. She commanded Riley to attack even before both of their opponents were out of their pokeballs. Riley jumped and did a Force Palm on the onix's head. The onix's head was buried into the quartz. Riley jumped back and gripped its arm in pain. Onix are made of very hard ROCK.

Anna commanded her Psyduck against Cranidos. It used Water Gun but Cranidos quickly dodged and charged at the distracted Riley with a Headbutt attack.

"Oh noes!" Anna cried. She quickly ordered her Psyduck who stood motionless for like two seconds.

"Use Water Gun!" Anna's monotone voice strained to be enthusiastic.

The attack sent Cranidos into a wall of quartz. Anna was just about to do her happy dance, when the Onix that everyone vaguely forgot, reared up and struck Psyduck with its face. Roark laughed triumphantly. Geez, what a decepticon.

Riley, with his weak little recovering arms, loyally took another attack from cranidos and hit Onix. Onix reared up again for another strike. Justyna had a sly idea. She quickly commanded Riley, who stood in Onix's shadow, grasping Psyduck, and being in the way of two attacks from both Onix and Cranidos. Cranidos leaped into another Headbutt and then Riley and Psyduck jumped out of the way and Onix's attack struck the speeding Cranidos. Cranidos lay twitching in a heap of quartz and ROCK.

"It's only a quartz layer!" Dawn exclaimed.

"Shuppet Shup." Paul was ashamed,

The Referee Bee informed them that Cranidos was unable to battle. Riley and Psyduck focused on the huge Onix. It shook its head of debris and whipped its tail around them. Riley leaped out of the way but Psyduck, clutching its head, was caught it the Wrap. Riley attacked the Onix with another Force Palm, to which it harshly released Psyduck and struck its tail down in Riley's direction. Free, Psyduck attacked again with Water Gun. The onix struggled to pay attention to both pokemon at once and as Roark commanded it, Riley came from the side and struck him with an Aura Sphere. Onix recoiled but went for another sudden attack, which Psyduck countered with the strongest Water Gun it could manage. In the spray of hydrogen and oxygen, Riley used a third Force Palm and hypothetically killed Onix.

Referee Bee buzzed with enthusiasm. The audience cheered. Riley whined about his wittle arms. Psyduck fell over comically.

Roark walked over to give them each a Coal Badge. Dawn and Paul stood beside them, looking proudly at Anna and Justyna.

"That reminds me!" Justyna exclaimed, "We never finished our emo lessons!"

"Good battle, guys." Roark congratulated them, "I'm really impressed on how you beat my Onix. He's pretty vicious isn't he?"

"We have an onix too," Justyna remembered from yesterday, "And he's definitely bigger than yours."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes."

"Well we'll see."

As that was going on, Anna received a phone call. She, Dawn and their pokemon danced for a minute to the awesome ringtone.

"Oh, hey Brad." Anna answered.

"Who the hell is Brad?" Dawn asked.

Anna quickly informed Dawn and told Brad of their recent adventures.

"Really?" The phone was really loud, "I'm just starting out to Jublife. Rowan had me do lots of stuff so I'm just setting out."

"Oh yeah? Well, we already have one gym badge!" Justyna exclaimed, overhearing the cellphone conversation, "Plus we have an onix, and it's huge!"

They left the gym with a compromise that the greatness of the size of the onix depended on the trainer. They stopped at the Pokemon Center and then went back to their hotel for a celebratory brunch. They were all hanging out in Anna's room, when Justyna remembered, "I heard that there's a great training place just north of town! It's still light out!"

"I don't think Psyduck or Riley want to fight anymore today." Anna said.

"Then they'll stay here! They can get massages!"

And so they did.

Justyna hurried back and forth, similarly to the first day they set out to Sandgem, trying to herd her friends faster. Anna suddenly found herself thinking how great the simplicity of friends was.

"Anna! Don't space out!" Justyna scolded her, "We have pokemon to rape."

"Well thank you for that image." Dawn groaned.

The training place was filled, mostly with geodudes. Imagine that. Kisa and Riceball were brought out and trained. They came across a group of machop as well and after catching one, Staravia made quick work of the rest. Dawn participated only in one quick battle.

"You should battle more, since Paul is so strong." Anna noted.

"Emo people don't battle. They watch others battle in the safety of their emo corners."

Anna got a nice surprise. She and Kisa worked to bring down a group of aggressive geodudes when the mysterious light of evolution shown again. Kisa was, now, no longer able to be carried, instead, after dark came, Riceball and Paul and their owners walked by her side as the grotle carried Anna back to the hotel.

"I can't wait to get to bed," Justyna said aloud, "I feel we were rounding up drug addicts all day."

Paul said T T


	12. FANGIRLS! And a Kitty

They actually stayed in Oreburgh one more day; the hot springs were very relaxing and open. The next day they headed back to Jublife since Oreburgh was a dead-end for now. It took them a day and a half, so by that some nondescript afternoon they were eating breakfast-pre-dinner at the diner where they had met Dawn. There were pikachus serving them this time. The waitress explained that the pichus had been too weak to carry the unreasonable amount of dirty platters so they fired them and got some pikachus instead. Anna didn't question their logic.

Paul and Dawn were enjoying some waffles with natural, less creamy maple syrup; the liquidly form reminded them of hopelessness. Justyna liked it too, but anyway.

Anna was reading the bestseller's list in the newspaper she had acquired when she noticed a shaggy mop of curly black hair sitting in the booth in front of her.

"Brad!" Justyna quickly shouted before Anna even said anything. It is said that idiots are the beakers of unimaginable knowledge and realizers of presence, that's why they were made so unconcentratable.

Brad came over to their booth with a large absol by his side.

"I traded my chimchar for it." He said, not expressing much emotion.

"But I thought-"

"I only wanted it because this guy told me he would give me an absol for it." He even muahahahaed.

Dawn was impressed by Brad and his cold, devoid expression that only Brads could make. They were soon acquainted. He told them that he had just arrived in Jublife the other day; he was so held up by work from Rowan that he had started his pokemon adventure later.

"I had to carry my saxophone with me too." Bard complained, pointing at the black case he had with him.

"Why would you bring that?" Dawn asked.

"This thing is my life." Brad replied.

"Your life is controlled by inanimate objects too?" Leek.

They soon agreed to travel together, Brad said that he had other work to do and wasn't all that interested in getting badges.

"But I bet you haven't gone to Canavale City." He said when Justyna started bragging about their gym match.

"Yeah, we'll go there next! And we'll get a badge there too!" Justyna shouted back, "I know there's a gym there too! And you haven't gotten a badge there!"

"That's because you need five to even be allowed to enter the gym. And you can't get there until you get a pokemon who knows how to Surf, which you won't be allowed to use until you get your fifth gym badge. I got there on a boat Rowan arranged for me because he wanted me to visit the library there. And that boat's the only one running and it's out of business because the sailor left today." Brad shot her down. Anna and Dawn and Paul stared at Brad's unchanged face.

"Yeah, working for old guys pays off."

"What'd you have to do at the library?" Anna asked, although secretly she was sighing _He's so smart_. Her inner voice wasn't monotone.

"Various paraphernalia." the Fool answered.

That evening, the four of them were warmly welcomed into Dawn's large orange house and were given a very scrumptious dinner which they ate, despite being filled with waffles and syrup. Dawn's father seemed very eager to talk to them.

"I don't know if Dawn told you, but I sponsor the Pokemon School; have you seen it?" he said while they were eating.

"I saw that place! Do you own, like, everything?" Justyna said, stuffing herself with croissants.

"How silly, I just own this city." He said laughing. They all laughed too until Dawn's expression told them he wasn't kidding.

"The children there are still learning and I think it would be great if you all showed them your pokemon; they could see what real trainers do."

"We sleep in the grass!" Justyna said enthusiastically. Riley, Riceball, and Makowca, seated behind her on luxurious pillows, gave excited shouts.

"Let's not mention that." Dawn said.

Their pokemon liked the idea, except boring Paul, and they agreed to visit the school tomorrow at noon.

The next morning, they kept their promise and visited the school while Dawn and Paul wandered around the city. They weren't very fond of screaming little children. Neither was Justyna but she liked showing off.

At the door of the school they were tackled by many 2nd graders, who were screaming 'POKEMON!'

"They're like fangirls!" Anna shouted.

After the teacher got control over the children, they went to the playground and let out their pokemon.

Kisa was climbed upon; Staravia flew around carrying children, at least as high as she could manage; Psyduck was splashed with a garden hose; Shinx chased little children. Brad had a hoothoot named Luke in addition to his absol, Phedre, and they both joined in chasing and being chased by children. Riley was shy but enjoyed being 'kawaii!'d' over, but Riceball and Makowca were not as fond of the kids and ran about trying to escape them in disgust and fear respectively.

"There are actually a lot of kids here." Anna noted.

"It's like an army of children." Brad said, using his hands to emphasize his point.

"Ahhh!" Justyna whined, "Don't touch my pokemon!"

Riceball and Makowca were still being frantically pursued by the disobedient children. Justyna irritably ordered Riceball to use Bubblebeam on the little children which made them keep their distance.

"That wasn't nice." Anna said.

"They're just bubbles."

"They're attack bubbles." Brad pointed out.

After seeing that, the teacher though it would be a good idea to show the children the pokemons' moves. Brad's absol displayed a powerful Razor Wind that destroyed a tree, which Kisa then attacked with Razor Leaf. Riceball and Psyduck made more bubbles and Makowca evaporated them with Ember. Riley, Staravia, and Hoothoot had a mock battle where the birds attacked with Wing Attacks and Pecks and Riley masterfully dodged them and shot Aura Spheres. Shinx performed Tackles with flowing Spark attacks.

Then one of the children exclaimed excitedly, "Ms. Ichiyakojiki! Is that evolution?" Shinx was glowing. The children clamored around to see while Anna did her happy dance. Brad stood back; he had seen so many evolutions in his work that it was boring to him now. Justyna did her happy dance with Anna, for emotional support. Anna now owned a Luxio. It performed it's new, more powerful Spark attack for the children and the rest of the school day was spent playing.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, Dawn and Paul wandered around in the alleyways, avoiding the Sun. They found a comfortable spot and stayed, being emo together, even revealing their periwinkle shirt…! Then Dawn squeaked when a garbage can fell over and spilled a dirty pink pokemon with big ears.

After the terror of Pokeschool, the three returned to Dawn's mansion. A servant pointed them towards the bathroom where Dawn supposedly was. Then another servant pointed them to the specific hallway where the bathroom was. Then the Butler led them to Dawn's bathroom, because when you're rich you need your own bathroom with only your germs.

Dawn was leaning over the bathtub and was scrubbing something every hard. Paul floated over the water, circling around a rubber ducky that was there. The bathroom itself was surprising white; although it contained no windows.

Justyna came up and crouched near the bathtub and looked in.

"Iza skitty!" she exclaimed.

"I found him in an alley," none needed to know why Dawn was in an alley, "And he was so cute!"

She picked the wet, smiling skitty out of the water and hugged him. Paul twirled around happily.

"Dawn feels happiness! We're doomed!" Anna joked.

"He just came over to me and went into a pokeball when I held it out. I'm calling him Kitty."

"How original." Brad said in his Bradish manner.

At dinner they all discussed their days. Then they, meaning pokemon as well, all took long baths in their own bathrooms and went to sleep in beds the size Dawn's money could afford.


	13. Dawn Wins at Life and Justyna Fails

"Experimental Psychology?" Justyna asked, very much annoyed and confused.

"Impressive." Dawn said, nodding.

"Skitty skitty!"

"Yeah," Brad said, smiling widely, "Rowan wanted me to test it out on unsuspecting people. Like you."

He seemed like he would crack up any minute.

"Sorry if I seemed too mean." He added.

"Yeah, you were a total arse." Anna said. She glared at Justyna.

"What?"

Brad opened up his saxophone case, only for everyone to discover there was nothing inside.

"Yeah it was all part of the experiment. Why would I lug a saxophone around Sinnoh? I mean seriously." Brad said, laughing again.

"You might." Dawn pointed out.

Brad soon left; for he had to return the saxophone case to the owner he borrowed it from. Anna, Dawn, and Justyna left Dawn's mansion too, looking for the Pokemart to see if they could buy some better pokeballs, or just balls, since better ones were not named so; Dawn had had read that tougher pokemon were in their future. It was all in her pokemon manual.

They had just exited the Mart when a peculiar ray of light made Justyna notice something shiny in the Dawn area.

" DAWN! You're wearing earrings!"

"Yeah, I always have."

"But emo people don't wear earrings!"

"They can. Emo doesn't mean dark and depressing."

Kitty nodded mindlessly and Paul agreed too. Anna was secretly relieved that that was out in the open. Justyna was making Dawn seem way too depressing.

"In that case, let us do something far from emoness!" Justyna exclaimed. Riley by her side agreed.

"Which would be?" Dawn inquired.

Justyna pointed at the side of the building where there stuck a large, brightly colored poster screaming 'POKEMON CONTEST.'

"I've been seeing those everywhere today!" Justyna exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, my dad said something about sponsoring one of those." Dawn mumbled to herself.

"Even more reason to enter!" Justyna had surprisingly good hearing.

They went to the TV Station where the contest was held and Justyna hastily entered with Riley, who was very excited now. Dawn was pressured to enter since her extent of emoness didn't much like contests. She entered with Kitty since Paul outright refused. Anna thought of entering but decided against it. _Let us see how this will turn out…_ Her inner voice told her, laughing manically.

Brad showed up at the contest after returning the empty case and he and Anna sat together in the auditorium of the TV Station and prepared for the pokemon contestical spectacle. The MC, an old man, entered the stage through the floor, jumping wildly. The crowd was captivated. He announced the contest, its sponsors, and the various stages of the event; the beginning performance, the dance stage, and the final judging. Entered the stage two more judges, a Nurse Joy and a young man, and the contest began.

Backstage, Justyna found out that two hundred and fifty-four people were at the event.

"I can't do it!" she whined, wreaking with nerves.

"What are you talking about? You were so excited!" Dawn exclaimed, confused, "Anna said how you were so commanding when you went to the school!"

"She said that?…Well, those were just kids! These people can think and judge me." Justyna said, quaking with stage fright.

"Well, it is a contest."

"That doesn't help!"

Then Dawn was taken by surprise when she discovered that for the first stage they were to have their pokemon perform attack combinations in an appealing manner. They had no idea and no preparation or practice. _How embarrassing._ Her inner voice groaned and she quickly turned to Kitty and Paul and tried to create a winning combo. Justyna realized the new dilemma and whined more, Riley felt bad and sat down to think.

The contest opened with the performances of the six other competitors. An especially good show was put on by a girl and her altaria who did a move called Dragon Dance while spitting blue fireballs around her. Anna was impressed as well.

"They're just blue flames." Brad said, a bit aggravated at the crowd's dumb amazement.

Dawn was up now. She stepped on stage with Paul floating always by her side, not showing she was nervous and sent out Kitty, who landed on his big tail and cried out happily. He jumped down on her command and ran around jumping high and in flips and all sorts of cute stuff. Acrobatic Kitty! The crowd was captivated again. Anna tried hard not to laugh and Brad quietly mumbled, "Face-palm."

Kitty used Attract and little pink and purple hearts turned up and he playfully chased and jumped after them. Lastly he used Assist, Dawn crossed her fingers that the move would grant her a good attack from the six performances before them. Superstition rewarded her with the move Blizzard that was used before by a boy with a snorunt. The floaty hearts froze and fell and shattered neatly, making the ground sparkle. Kitty stuck a final cute pose with his pink tail high in the air. The crowd went wild and Kitty commanded full attention. Dawn went backstage and moaned.

"That was even more embarrassing!"

Justyna was up. Riley walked calmly by her side as she stood before everyone, frozen. Riley shouted to get the crowd's attention and used a move called Sword Dance. Then he grabbed two swords and started jumping and dodging mock stabs from the other swords for a good minute. It was like a pokemon Rush Hour 2. He was an aura-manipulating master. The riolu then threw the two swords he had and they cut the other swords in half and vanished in a flash of aura. He caught the ones he threw and compounded them into a sphere and shot it up in the air where it exploded in blue fireworks. The crowd ahhhhhhhhed.

Justyna took a hasty bow and ran backstage, hugging happy Riley dangerously hard.

Next came the dancing. A large screen faced the stage from the back of the auditorium; two smaller screens faced the crowd and would display the same thing for the audience. The eight pokemon and their trainers stepped on stage and the MC explained the rules.

"It's basically DDR." Brad noted from his seat. _I should have entered._ Anna's inner voice regretted.

Breakdown started playing and pokemon and trainer started following the arrows. Dawn was not overly fond of video games and did…not very well. Justyna had played DDR before but she was not an overly coordinate person and after she missed an arrow, she would stumble for at least ten more. Riley and Kitty did much, much better. They had very good concentration. Paul hovered in the arrow directions a bit too from the sidelines. The other contestants were clearly video game addicts but luckily the song was on expert mode and they once or twice stumbled too.

After a minute and forty-six seconds, they were judged. Luckily the score concentrated more on the pokemon's performance and Dawn and Justyna did fairly well. The other contestants scored well too; Kitty's beginning performance put him and Dawn right behind them. Justyna was last.

The final stage was to show off their best move for one of the three judges. Justyna was last and sat quietly pondering how to display Riley's Aura Sphere and to which judge. Dawn though too but not as hard. A man came by to ask which judge they would be performing for; after he got everyone's he started calling them up. The altaria girl performed for the MC with her lovely Dragon Dance. The boy with the snorunt performed Blizzard for the Nurse Joy. The four other competitors performed solely for the MC. Dawn, second to last, performed for the young man judge with Assist. Pure luck was with them. A kid before them had had a bidoof which surprisingly, knew Hyper Beam and Kitty shot one straight up in the air and it flowed back down and melted into glittering dust. The crowd and the judge ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhed. Paul floated confidently with a little smile. Kitty danced.

"I really do hate bidoofs." Justyna growled. Riley snarled in his adorable fashion.

Justyna came on last, not very excited or nervous anymore and performed Riley's Aura Sphere for the MC.

All went backstage and awaited judging. Anna and Brad managed to get past the security guard and got to Justyna and Dawn.

"That last stage was horrible." Brad said right away, "Three judges and eight contestants? I'm amazed you were the only one to perform for that guy."

"Well, it's not an official contest." Dawn replied, "Otherwise they would have given out ribbons."

"Then what's the prize?" It had not been announced at the beginning.

Anna and Brad stayed backstage as the eight and their pokemon faced the crowd, watching the giant screen in front of them for the results. They showed the eight contestants' pictures next to horizontal bars that filled with red pixels to signify the first performance. Dawn and the altaria girl were nearly equally with everyone else close behind. Then it went green for the dancing which were all over the place; but it was certain that the altaria was leading, Dawn and Kitty were somewhere behind them and Justyna and Riley were last. Then the last performance was signified with blue and it filled very little for the six who performed for the MC. The snorunt boy who performed for Nurse Joy passed the altaria but Dawn passed him by just a smidgeon.

"Holy shmoople, she won." Anna said, looking from backstage.

Steamers and balloons were suddenly raining on them like cats and dogs. Kitty and Paul ran and floated in circles and Dawn's face was blown up the screens and virtual confetti passed over it. The losers stepped off to the side of the stage and Dawn stood there alone, waving politely to the roaring crowd.

Then her father came on stage; she did say he was a sponsor; and gave Dawn her prize.

"Holy shit on a fucking sandwich," Justyna exclaimed quite loudly, " She gets a Master Ball for winning a contest?"

"How much do those poketechs cost?" Brad said stupefied.

They returned to Dawn's house for a very delicious celebration. There was a cake with ice cream and cookies. Justyna devoured most of it in her aggravated despair over losing. Brad, Anna, Justyna, and Dawn released all their pokemon who ate with them as well; Dawn's mother had bought loads of pokemon food. They liked the cake better though. Especially Paul.

Then they all bathed in their own bathrooms, their pokemon getting washed up too, and went to bed.

In the middle of the night, Paul rose from his comfortable sleeping spot in the air next to Dawn's bed and floated past and through the wall into the hallway. He sailed past Anna's and Brad's doors and stopped by Justyna's, feeling a tinge in the air. The door opened slightly and Riley peered out. Paul resumed floating down the hall with Riley curiously following him.

At the end of the hall there was a large window, slightly open, that overlooked the backyard and the forest and mountains right outside of Jublife. Riley jumped up on the windowsill for a better look. Paul drifted uncomfortably, looking out into the night. Riley shuddered when an unusually cold breeze came through the window; but it wasn't just from the temperature. The cool air brought bad aura from the not-so-distant future of their friends. The only two who could feel it looked on.


	14. Two Boys Get Beaten Up by Girls

They left Jublife the next day for the second time, heading north this time. Dawn handily informed them that it would take about three days to get to the next town, which was named Floaroma. Brad, being the only boy, was miserable.

Dawn's mom made sure they were ready to head out in the morning, saving them time going to the Pokemart. She also gave Dawn a velvet pouch for her new Masterball.

Anna rode out of town on Kisa; the grotle was very strong and happy to give rides. Justyna wandered ahead with Riley skipping behind her. Dawn, Brad and Phedre and Paul walked by Kisa and Anna.

The first day passed by quickly; going through forests and defeating pokemon they had already caught: shinx, starly, bidoofs. The bidoof population in the area severely declined in a couple hours. Anna and Dawn happily joined the training and Brad was quickly persuaded too. The pattern continued till evening until the next day's afternoon. By then, Justyna was out of steam from her bidoof persecution and since there were no saunas nearby, Anna sighed and let Kisa carry her.

As evening was nearing again, they ran into two guys heading the opposite way. There was really no need for any conversing but they did.

"What's wrong with her?" one boy asked, pointing at Justyna.

"She's tired from killing bidoofs." Dawn answered.

At that, they stood in their way looking at them. Anna silently motioned aWKWarD TuRTle.

"Can we help you?" Brad inquired.

"You can't be tired from making your pokemon fight bidoofs." the boy said.

"Apparently you can." Dawn said. Paul nodded.

"No, you can't."

"Yeah, that's stupid." The other guy backed him up. The word YAOI passed through Anna's mind.

"Are we really going to argue over this?" Dawn laughed.

"YEAH, we are!" they responded, "And we'll solve it with a pokemon battle!"

They pointed at them dramatically as they said that. Brad quietly asked himself, "What the hell?" Dawn looked at Anna with the same question. She just rolled her eyes and shrugged. Justyna groaned.

They were forced to accept the challenge. The two boys quickly sent out a pokemon each. The shorter of the two sent out a buizel and the taller sent out graveller. Anna quickly stepped up and sent out Luxio. She called for it to attack the buizel, but as it leaped at it, it was caught and thrown back by the graveller. The boys together made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a shout and gave each other a high-five.

"We totally owned them dude!"

Anna sighed. Brad got to Anna's side and commanded Phedre. He still had the WTH look stuck on his face. They each gave a nod of understanding to the other and called their attacks. Phedre attacked the graveller and Luxio went for Buizel again. The graveller tried to grab Luxio again but Brad's absol tackled it out of reach. The buizel and its trainer, counting on the graveller's protection, did nothing. Luxio tackled it with a Spark attack that Anna ordered and it was knocked out.

The short guy with his unconscious buizel did the grunt-scream again, stomping his feet and waving his fists.

"You can't do that!" he protested.

"I can do whatever I want, because I'm an Anna." she replied.

"Don't be such a baby." Dawn laughed.

"Phedre! Dark Pulse!" Brad shouted, still focused on the battle.

His absol was being circled by dark balls of energy. The graveller leaped at her but Phedre slid out of the way and hit the graveller with one of the dark spheres. It fell on its side and Brad quickly ordered his pokemon to jump over it. Phedre leaped, spun and viciously threw the rest of the Dark Pulse attack on the graveller. It too, died; fell unconscious. The other guy didn't throw a fit like his friend but still looked bamboozled.

"No way, man…" He muttered, shaking his head.

"YES WAY!" Justyna shouted unexpectedly.

"This is outrageous!" The short boy with the buizel said with frustration.

"Brian, calm down." His friend said, returning his graveller to its pokeball.

"No, YOU calm down!" Brian retorted, "This is stupid."

The other boy stepped across their battlefield to awkwardly shake Brad's hand.

"Dan! Don't do that!" Brian called.

"But we lost…" Dan replied innocently.

"So? That doesn't mean they won!"

"That doesn't make sense!" Brad cried to some outwardly divine force.

Dan and Brian eventually passed them after much ranting, mostly from Brian. Anna made Justyna get off Kisa, since she was supposedly well again. The night passed and they awoke the next morning to realize that they had lost some time with their encounter the day before. Time was lost mostly by Brian's rants than the actual battle. They would probably arrive at Floaroma Town late at night rather than in the afternoon as they'd thought. They rushed a bit through the woods, not stopping to beat up wild pokemon as often.

They came to the entrance of a large cave by the afternoon. Dawn foretold that it was quite long and they would definitely reach Floaroma very late into the night. They unanimously decided that they might as well take their time; the cave was filled with rock pokemon that were perfect for training Justyna's prinplup and riolu, Kisa, Anna's Psyduck, and Phedre. Paul liked to be in the darkness of the cave and floated lazily around as they battled.

As they fought the inhabitants of the cave, Paul spied a second tunnel and floated down it to scout. Justyna noticed him and quickly ran after him. Just as Brad, Dawn, and Anna noticed she was gone, she screamed. They saw the second tunnel and they and their pokemon quickly ran towards her voice. At the end of the tunnel was a large expanse of water, dimly lit by a hole in the ceiling.

"Justyna?" Dawn called anxiously.

"Hey! You guys found the second tunnel!" They all jumped because it turned out she was standing right next to them.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I caught a Magikarp!" It was flopping in her hands. "It just leapt out of the water!" Riley and Riceball were flabbergasted by the event.

"Is that why you screamed?" Anna asked.

"No, I heard something dripping really loudly." She shivered. "I thought it was that old guy from the bathtub. Remember Anna?"

Anna nodded and sighed. Dawn and Brad twitched; their lack of knowledge of Justyna's dreams left the moment decently creepy.

They sent the fish back with the Pokecatch and went back to the first tunnel. They walked the rest of the way out.

It was already night outside. Brad checked his Poketech and informed them that it was LATE. Dawn became worried of where they would stay once they got to Town. They could always camp but being near civilization made that feel mediocre.

"I could call Christian." Justyna thought aloud, "And force him to let us stay at his house…"

"Christian lives in Floaroma Town?" Anna laughed. "Somehow, I just knew that it had to be."

The three girls easily forced Christian to accept their request. Brad laughed about it after they had hung up. They reached Floaroma an hour later, found Christian's home and Brad fell asleep on the floor of his guest room when Dawn, Anna, and Justyna took up all the beds.


	15. Sparks Fly Upwards

Brad, Anna and Dawn woke up to a very pleasant flowery scent. Justyna was gone from her bed. The three got up and found their way to the kitchen, lured by the delicious smell of waffles. Justyna was there with Riley on the table picking food from her plate.

"When did you get up?" Dawn asked sleepily.

"Like at seven o'clock!" she replied after chewing, "It's already eleven!"

"Yeah, _I'd _be waking up right now too; but no, you wake me up and make me make you food!" a whiny voice came from behind them. A tall, skinny boy with messed up brown hair and an HEART apron on came in.

"It's Christian!" Anna exclaimed, hugging her old friend. Then another boy came in, much shorter with fluffy yellow hair and a Companion Cube Shirt.

"Good morning Anna." he said politely in a voice almost as monotone as Anna's, "What are you talking about Christian? I made the food."

"What's Tyler doing here?" Anna asked confused.

"It's my house." he replied.

They sat down for breakfast made by Tyler, who was a good cook. They let out their pokemon to eat in the garden backyard. Tyler's mareep was lazing around the backyard already and Christian's two eevees were out there too. He also had a riolu that involuntarily glomped Justyna's. Then the situation was explained.

Tyler, Christian's friend had moved to live across town. Apparently Christian's house caught on fire about half a year ago and he had to live with Tyler since no one else really liked him.

"When's your house going to be rebuilt?" Brad asked, nibbling on some toast.

"It's not." Christian said gloomily.

"A torterra with a huge tree on its back sits there all day. And it has bird pokemon living on it that attack anyone who tries to get close." Tyler said, giggling.

"It's not funny! Now I have to live with this pervert!" Christian whispered, pointing at Tyler.

"I can hear you Christian." Tyler replied.

"What do you mean pervert?" Brad asked, intrigued.

"He leans on me when we're watching TV! He makes me sleep in the same room as him, and the other day, he gave me breakfast in the shape of a penis!" Christian exclaimed.

"It was a banana, Christian." Tyler said.

"It doesn't make a difference!" It was quiet.

"Your home smells really nice." Dawn commented, breaking the silence, "Like flowers."

"That's cuz it's the Flower Festival." Christian said while chewing with his mouth full of waffle.

"It'd smell the same any other day." Tyler said, "It's Floaroma Town."

After breakfast they went out to watch the preparations for the Festival. There were lots of people watering the huge flower field behind the town and planting berries so that they would be fully grown the next day.

"It's tomorrow." Christian said, "There's gonna be berries, honey, and really sunny so you should get sunscreen."

He laughed a bit, but realized that no one else was and faded away awkwardly.

"Don't try to be funny Christian." Justyna said strictly.

When lunch came around, they started to head back to Tyler's house when Christian turned the other way, toward the large flower field.

"The flowers there attract pokemon from all over." Tyler explained, "Christian always goes there in the afternoon to see if there is a celebi around."

"Celebi? Isn't it really rare?" Brad asked.

"Yes." Tyler sighed, "Christian tells me he looks for feebases too."

They all shook their heads in amused disbelief. Justyna, however, was interested in what kinds of pokemon _were_ there. She left them to catch up with Christian. She followed him deep into the field of flowers and tackled him. Like trainers, like riolu.

"So you're looking for a feebas?"

"Yeah, don't think I'll catch one for you woman!" he responded, getting up.

"I don't expect you to catch one at all." She said rolling her eyes.

They looked through the flowers and found several grass pokemon, Justyna and Christian weren't interested in catching them though. They looked for about an hour before Justyna got hungry. They started to head back when Christian remembered something and pulled out from his pocket a green crystal with a lightning bolt down the middle. Justyna squealed over its brightness in the afternoon sun.

"I got it the other day. I've been thinking of using it on one of my eevees…maybe The Sun…" Christian started to bore everyone when they heard a loud rustling coming from not far in front of them. Justyna shrieked, grabbed the thunderstone from Christian's hands and threw it into the flowers.

"WHAT THE HELL WOMAN?" Christian shouted, riveted in shock "That thunderstone cost me, like, a million yen!"

"Don't over exaggerate Christian," Justyna replied, finding her cool, "It was a reflex, dude, I couldn't do anything about it. Besides we can find it."

The flowers rustled again and a pale light came from within it. A green jolteon crept out of grass, it was bleeding from a scratch on its head. It snarled, sending off a shower of sparks.

"Holy shit!" Christian shouted, "You wasted my thunderstone! You're getting me-"

The jolteon leaped at Christian, overflowing in blue electricity. Christian screamed but couldn't avoid the angry pokemon and was the victim of a powerful Spark. He fell to the ground, twitching. The jolteon landed on top of him triumphantly. It roared but was cut off when a quickball hit its head and it was sucked into it. The quickball fell on Christian and lay, rolling from side to side. After five very long seconds, it stopped.

"GYES!" Justyna shouted, snatching the quickball, "I have a shiny jolteon!"

She held it up in the air and it sparkled in the sun. She quickly put it down, for it brought bad memories of a horrible book.

She looked over to where Christian lay and nudged him with her foot.

"Stop overreacting and get up Christian." Christian twitched.

Tyler and his guests had finished lunch and were in the process of making supper outside; a barbecue. All the pokemon were playing in the garden and their owners were telling stories. Dawn was about to talk about her latest contest when her skitty alerted them of a visitor. Justyna walked through the back gate carrying Christian, quickly throwing him off her back into a patch of thorny roses.

"I smell food!" she said excitedly.

Tyler abandoned the grill to pull Christian into the house; he was still twitching and mumbling. Anna, Brad, and Dawn watched them go in and slowly turned to look questioningly at Justyna. She hastily explained what happened, grabbing her quick ball and throwing it up in the air, releasing the jolteon.

"His name is Light! He's shiny!" Justyna jumped up in glee, "I'm so awesome!"

The jolteon growled and leaped at Justyna who broke out of her happy dance and quickly ducked and returned Light to his ball.

"And apparently he hates you." Brad said as-a-matter-of-facty.

Christian turned out to be okay, though he still twitched when they ate dinner in the presence of Anna's Luxio and Tyler's Mareep named Reepy. They carefully put him to bed although he babbled on that he still needed to find celebi and a feebas.

"Christian, just close your eyes and think about men." Tyler reassured him.

That quickly put him to sleep, although when they woke up the next morning, he was very mad at Tyler and in high dudgeon with Justyna. They had a very loud and angry breakfast.

Then the Flower Festival began. All the pokemon in town were out and about, except for Justyna's new, agitated jolteon. The flowers seemed more colourful than the day before and everyone, even Paul, was in awe of them. The berries planted yesterday had grown and were picked of their new berries. There was a huge buffet of pastries and fruit for both people and pokemon made of the various berries. All the food was just about gone when someone came running through the flower field shouting, "The honey! It has disappeared!"

Everyone gasped except for Anna, Brad, and Dawn.

"Is that a problem?" Anna asked.

"YES! We need it for the festival!" Christian shouted, "It's our special thing!"

"Why did you gasp?" Tyler whispered to Justyna.

"Are you kidding? It's always a tragedy when food disappears!"

The townspeople anxiously chattered about what to do when Tyler's mareep started to wander away, drawn with a serious fluffy feeling. Soon other pokemon and eventually all of them followed him.

"The pokemon!" someone exclaimed, "They can probably smell the honey!"

Everyone trailed the large herd of pokemon; they walked through the flower field and down a path through a small forest.

"This leads to the larger flower field outside town." Tyler said.

"There's an even bigger one?" Brad exclaimed.

They cleared the woods and entered a vast sea-field of flowers. Dawn focused on her poketech which had an application that detected objects. She found a rock and a pebble but nothing else. The pokemon kept going deep into the field. They stopped suddenly and looked around nervously. Everyone stopped behind them.

"Is it here?"

"Where the F is the honey?"

The ground rolled up and closed around the herd of pokemon in front of them. It was a huge net and it heaved the mass of pokemon into the air. Everyone ran to it but it was already too high to reach. Several people tried to shout commands to their pokemon but they were all too shocked and squashed together to do anything. Someone had the brilliant idea to look higher up and saw the large white balloon lifting the pokemon upward. It had a funky yellow G on it. It was manned by spacemen.

"Who the hell are you?" Brad called out.

"Team Galactic!" Came the answer.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Christian screeched.

"We're stealing your pokemon, Sherlock!"

"And your honey too!"

Everyone gasped again.

"It's all Christian's fault!" a child cried out.

"What?" He squeaked. Everyone turned to him yelling; if only they had had torches, the whole thing would have gone a lot faster. Anna, Dawn, and Brad sighed and reached for their pokeballs to remember that all the pokemon were captured. They were about to panic when they heard the familiar sound of a pokeball releasing a pokemon.

"Go Light!" Justyna called out, "Thunderbolt!"

Then she screamed and they found her on the ground, twitching with Light gnawing her leg.

The jolteon lifted its head and sniffed. It turned its head and saw the balloon drifting overhead. It left Justyna's leg and dashed after it, jumping up to try to reach it. The townspeople ran after him with a shred of hope. The balloon was too high, and it had almost crossed the whole field and was moving towards the river that bordered it.

Light stopped and turned around, running past the people and around the edge of the field. It ran back towards the balloon, gathering speed. Sparks started to flow from it and in one bound it soared straight at the balloon. It caught onto the net holding all the pokemon and electrocuted the whole balloon, the spacemen, and the pokemon. The balloon crashed, ripping open the net and sending the pokemon flying away, which was very good because seconds later, the balloon exploded.

Dawn, Brad, and Anna ran to find their pokemon that besides being electrocuted, were okay. Justyna's pokemon ran across the field to the spot where everyone had left her lying. Everyone else found their pokemon who were all more or less alright.

"Everyone! The honey is okay!" someone found them in the remains of the balloon with Light lapping it up and the whole field buzzed with joy.

They didn't find the spacemen, but the townspeople didn't really notice it. They paraded Justyna and her annoyed jolteon to town and sent her down in a purple flower patch before returning to their festivities. The local doctor said she would be okay so Anna, Dawn, and Brad happily joined in too. They collected the berries that were left over and the townspeople were happy to let them have them. They made delicious honey treats, which Dawn avoided, and vegetarian hamburgers, which were exquisite. And then they danced.

The Flower Festival ended after midnight. Anna, Dawn and the boys were ready to go back to Tyler's home when they noticed Riceball, Makowca, and Riley staring at them, sadly, disappointedly, and intensely.

Justyna was in the same spot where the townspeople dropped her. Light was sleeping peacefully next to her, exhausted of all its angst and electrical power. They carried them to the house and since he guessed she wouldn't really mind, Brad left her and her various pokemon to sleep in the garden so he could take her bed.


	16. Filled with Evil Squeaky Balloons

Dawn, Anna, and Brad woke up later than usual the next morning, still exhausted from the party. They all met in the kitchen, excluding Justyna, and the guests waited for Tyler to bring them breakfast. Christian came into the room suddenly, frustrated that the TV wouldn't turn on.

"The electric stove won't turn on either." Tyler said as he tried to make some egg-based breakfast. Reepy baaed in a disappointed manner by his side. They all quickly inspected the house and met in the kitchen again.

"None of the lights work either." Brad said.

"THE COMPUTER IS DEAD!" Christian cried.

Then Justyna wandered into the kitchen from the garden, rubbing her eyes of sleep and still wobbling from yesterday. She didn't seem to notice that Light was now following her. Her other pokemon stood awkwardly in the doorway.

"What happened? Is it time to eat…?" she mumbled while petting her grumpy jolteon.

"None of the electrical stuff are working!" Christian exclaimed.

"None of the electrical _appliances _or _things _are working, Christian." Justyna strictly corrected him.

"Fail." Brad agreed.

They heard a commotion outside. They collected themselves and ran outside. It turned out the townspeople had gathered because everyone's electrical stuff wasn't working.

"Where does the electricity come from anyway?" Anna asked.

"The Valley Windworks! It's not far away." Someone from the crowd answered.

"Is there something wrong with it?" Dawn asked. And as if right on cue, a little girl came running and yelling through the wooden arched gate leading out of Floaroma. She was sobbing heavily. The townspeople knew her as the daughter of a man who worked at the Windworks. He was named Bob. She cried that her father was being held hostage by spacemen, and we all know what that means.

"How far away is this place?" Anna demanded.

"Someone just said not far!" Justyna said, "Let's go!"

The little girl guided them, Brad, Anna, Dawn, Justyna, Christian and Tyler, out of Town, through the wooden gate in the east and they ran after her for about ten minutes before large white fans started to appear on the horizon. They weren't spinning. :o

They ran through an iron gate and towards the steel door entrance which, as they got closer they noticed, was guarded by another spaceman. When he saw them he called out, "Welcome grunts!" with great enthusiasm. Then as they got closer he frowned, "You guys are not Team Galactic grunts!"

"Yes we are!" Christian responded quickly. The man looked at him strangely.

"No, you're not…" he said slowly, "And you aren't getting inside!"

He ran inside and slammed the door behind him.

"That was sure to work." Brad said sarcastically, glaring at Christian.

"I have an idea," Anna said, "Stand back, you guys."

Anna sent out her grotle, Kisa, and ordered her to Tackle. With the extra few pounds from the Flower Festival, Kisa smashed through the door as if it was cardboard. They walked inside where the guard stood aghast. He ran off in a panic, arms flailing.

The inside was dark; no electricity, no lights. They all held hands to not get lost, mostly because the small girl was with them. A slightly glowing Paul happily led them because ghosts have good night vision. He was happy they had not forgotten him.

The building was full of noises unknown, Christian fidgeted at each small sound and jumped once and screamed. The little girl giggled when he did.

"Shut up Chris!" Justyna hissed, "You want someone to hear?"

Once again as if on cue, the lights flashed on, revealing at least fifteen spacemen standing around them. Without warning they sent out their pokemon; an array of zubats, glameows, and stunkies. The team sent out their pokemon in response; Luxio and Psyduck, Phedre, Light and Makowca, Christian's riolu, Neo, and Tyler's afor mentioned Reepy. Their combined electric attacks made quick work of the zubats and their other pokemon fought off the army of glameows and stunkies that whipped them with their tails and sprayed toxic fumes from their areas.

They were still grappling with the last of them when another zubat came out of nowhere and tackled Phedre out of its way. It circled back and bit into the neck of Christian's Neo. Reepy calmly attacked with a Thunderbolt attack so the zubat was already gone and the riolu was shocked instead.

"Not very good teamwork." Someone tsked. They noticed a tall red haired spacewomen coming out of another room with the zubat perched on her head.

"And who are you?" Dawn asked, her shuppet shivered from the sudden black aura.

"Me? I am Commander Mars." She responded, flipping her short hair.

"Mars?" Christian sneered, "Hah! What kind of name is that?"

He barely finished that sentence because as soon as he had laughed, the zubat swooped off Mars' shoulder and flew at his neck. Christian screamed in surprise and pain. Tyler quickly ordered Reepy to attack but once again the zubat quickly evaded it and Christian was electrocuted again. The zubat however, had flown in Anna's direction and her Psyduck mindlessly sprayed it with water. That didn't do a lot of damage but Luxio leapt to his feet and quickly Spark attacked it and it flew and fell back towards it trainer, knocked out.

Mars laughed, which was strange, and grabbed another pokeball off her person. It released a large purugly that screeched and attacked immediately upon release. Phedre had gotten up but was squashed by the purugly. It quickly jumped off the absol; Luxio rushed to check on her. This left Psyduck defenseless again the incoming purugly. Psyduck quickly dashed away in tears. Purugly landed and whipped around to attack Makowca. The quilava snarled confidently and at Justyna's command, became engulfed in flames and ran towards the freakish cat. The purugly stood its ground. Makowca hit it hard in the chest and burned its fur but fell over herself; it was like running into an iron wall. The purugly jumped over her and found itself surrounded by a recalled Luxio and shiny Light, the only two still standing.

"Justyna! I have an idea." Anna shouted, improvising. She shouted to Justyna again, in Polish.

Mars was dismayed, expecting to be able to work her way around their plan.

"What are you saying?" she grumbled, "Speak Japanese!"

The two electric pokemon started to run in a circle around the purugly. They quickly sped up; the purugly nervously looked at the green and blue blurs running around it. The circle soon started to get smaller, forcing the purugly into a tight corner, though not really a 'corner.' Mars hastily ordered her pokemon to use Scratch but the attack failed against the high-speed barricade and purugly broke all its nails. While it sat crying, the two lightning-fast pokemon suddenly changed direction and charged into purugly from the left and right, basically crushing it.

Mars shrieked and quickly called back her purugly. The Team Galactic grunts stood around them, shocked. An old man appeared from behind Mars, shaking his head.

"Epic fail, Commander."

"Oh shut up! You got the energy we needed didn't you?"

"Just finished."

"What energy?" Justyna demanded, "What are you guys doing?"

"Why doesn't the internet work?" Christian called out, slowly rising out of his electric shock.

"We're collecting energy for the Boss. His plan needs a whole mess of it." Mars replied, "We had to shut off all the power to rewire the energy converters to our needs and then we switched it on again."

"That must have been when the lights came on and we were bombarded with pokemon!" Brad exclaimed.

"I don't know how much energy you need but you can't have gathered a lot in only that much time." The Windworker's daughter said.

"Which is why we made the fans move faster than the wind could." The old man said.

"Alright Charon, let's go!" Mars laughed.

The old man clapped his hands and the lights flicked off; there was a large zapping noise. Instinctively everyone reached for a light switch.

"I think I found it!" Justyna called in the dark.

The lights came on but not by Justyna's action. A man stood in the door where Mars and the old man had been, others were seen behind him; he had flipped a switch. He suddenly shrieked and pointed across the room to Justyna.

"Don't touch that switch!" he shouted.

"Why?" Justyna asked without moving her hand away.

"That's the self-destruct switch!" She quickly pulled her hand away.

"Why do all weird factories or evil lairs have self-destruct switches?" Tyler asked.

"Regulations." The man sighed. The little girl was soon hugging him and he in return.

"Daddy!"

"Aww, it's like something from a horror movie…" Christian mumbled, still heavily confuzzled.

"What was that guys talking about making the fans go faster?" Anna asked the girl's father.

"Crap, I don't know!"

They recalled their tired pokemon and rushed outside of the building. The fans outside were covered by what seemed like purple clouds.

"Balloons!" Christian called, still wobbling.

"They're driftloons!" Dawn said.

The giant wind fans were moving freely by the wind, knocking the pokemon around the air. They bounced off of them in fury.

"I see, they were probably using their wind attacks to move the blades faster." Bob the Windworks worker said, "Now that those spacepeople are gone, they probably don't know what to do."

One of the driftloons noticed them and started making loud squeaky sounds. Soon all the driftloons turned in their direction and combined into a huge cloud that floated down upon them. They all squeaked and _driftloon_ed angrily.

"HOLY SNAPPLEPUFFS!" Justyna cried, finally using her catchphrase.

Anna was about to send out Luxio when she remembered that he was still recovering from smashing into the purugly. Light was too and their other pokemon couldn't do any quick damage to the impending driftloons of doom.

Paul quickly floated ahead to the driftloons _shuppet_ing, trying to reason with them but was drowned in their spherical purpleness. Before any of them could do anything else, the driftloons were all around them. Anna shouted with a broken spirit; driftloons were supposed to be cute! Tyler quickly sent out his only pokemon and yelled a warning to his friends who didn't hear. Then Reepy used Thunderbolt.

They woke up to a night sky. Reepy had not taken any action to awaken them. Everyone was alright except for Christian who was in a prolonged state of loopiness. The driftloons were gone except for one; Dawn turned out to have caught one right before Tyler's attack.

"His name is Kitty…" she said, still recovering from shock. She later decided to call him Balloony.

They eventually came to and walked back to Floaroma, took the girl and her father home and then collapsed in Tyler's backyard on the way inside.

In the morning the electricity was on the fritz. The Windworker promised to fix any problems Team Galactic left. They were still able to enjoy a hot breakfast thanks to Justyna and Makowca, who was beamed with self-esteem. Unfortunately she made oatmeal. It was maple flavoured.

That afternoon they were completely sure that the aftershock of electrocution had worn off until they saw a giant red balloon floated over the trees surrounding the town and landing in the flower meadow. They went to it cautiously; having Light, Luxio, and Reepy out and ready. The balloon was heavily electroshocked before they even got close. Good thing it was empty. They looked around and found its pilot looking through the flowers for pokemon.

"Professor Rowan! What are you doing up here?" Brad exclaimed.

"Looking for you, boy! I figured you might be this far." Rowan answered, "And I've never been wrong before!"

They all went back to Tyler's house for tea in the backyard, which Justyna demanded and Rowan enjoyed. They let out their pokemon and they happily played as dusk came in.

"I am planning to go back to the Hoenn soon." The Professor said, "And I would like you to come with me Brad."

"That's awesome! Of course, I'll go!" Brad exclaimed, "There's a pokemon there I've always wanted."

"You know me too." Tyler pondered.

"Well, you are more than welcome to come." Rowan smiled.

"I can get a snorunt there!" Christian realized. Tyler didn't bother to mention that there were snorunts in Sinnoh.

"Wait, _he's _not going is he?" Brad asked, eyeing Christian.

"The more the merrier!" Rowan said.

"Hooray." Tyler said.

"Oh, I'm not going now." Brad thought aloud.

"Like I said." Rowan glared at him, "I would like you to come with me Brad. And as your employer, I'm not giving you a choice."

Brad screamed in immense emotional pain. Justyna, Anna, Dawn and their pokemon laughed.

**I dedicate this chapter to Christian; I feel bad for him.**

**Pokemon are so wonderfully violent.**


	17. Squeaky Bunny must DIE

The next morning the girls said goodbye to Brad, Rowan, and Christian and Tyler. Brad seemed very sad as they walked away; they had no clue why, they had given him plenty of hugs before leaving.

Tyler and the grateful townsfolk had provided the girls with lots of food and berries and they happily snacked while they traveled; Anna rode on Kisa, Dawn walked with Paul and Balloony out and floating about, and Justyna chatted loudly with them with Riley sitting and eatin on her head.

They passed the Valley Windworks, where the fans were spinning quickly and freely. The area was bordered by a river so they crossed a bridge to the other side which was rocky and covered in a thin forest. They weren't in any rush and generously let out and trained their pokemon among the grasses.

There were no bidoofs there so Justyna seemed to be in an overly happy mood. There were buizels and pachirisus and shellos and shinx; oh shit. They caught one of each and proceeded to beat up the rest for the sake of their training.

"Hey guys? Will we ever train the other pokemon we catch?" Justyna asked when they caught a pokemon, "Like, to evolve them?"

"Why don't you do it?" Dawn retorted.

"That's a good idea! We all can!" Justyna exclaimed.

Dawn and Anna rolled their eyes and groaned.

The road got steeper after mid-afternoon but smoothed out at night. They reached the top and Justyna urged them to take a gander at the view. Riceball, Riley and Makowca tried to do the same to the formers' pokemon. Light said T_T

"It's just a bunch of trees." Dawn said, unimpressed.

"Come on Dawn! They're beautiful night trees!" Justyna pleaded, "Why are you so pessimistic?"

"I think Brad stole Kitty's soul." She said quite seriously. Her skitty was beside her, sitting quietly and looking off somewhere.

Anna and Justyna were both confused but only the latter pressed further. Dawn just glared and walked away muttering. Paul spun around slowly and cautiously followed Dawn. Balloony followed squeakily.

They soon found a house occupied by a nerdfighter who let them stay the night. Then they set out again the next morning.

In the daytime they could see ahead of them a large forest with tall green trees that seemed to become dark purple away from the Sun; Dawn, her ghost pokemon and even Kitty felt very comfortable under the trees. They carefully walked through the forest to a clearing that was still dark because the tall trees leaned over it. They took the time to send out and train some of their pokemon in the clearing that was crawling with pokemon. They caught a very shy little buneary that before sending her away with the Pokecatch, Anna named her Jeannie.

"My brother's girlfriend; she loves bunearies." Anna explained.

"Can we meet her?" Justyna asked, excitedly, "Wait, you have a brother?"

"Yes." Anna sighed, "I told you like, five times."

"Yeah, I forget that kind of – Pokemon!" Justyna quickly grabbed and threw a pokeball past Anna.

It hit something behind a tree. There was a flash of red light and a scream. Then a boy fell over from behind the tree; he twitched in pain. Anna laughed loudly and quite malevolently; she wasn't sure why. Dawn and Justyna quickly rushed over to help the blond-haired boy up.

"I'm okay." He said shaking. Anna cringed why; his voice was very high pitched.

Much to Anna's annoyance, they offered the boy some food and rest. His name was Momiji Sohma and the more he sat there, not saying much, the more Anna hated him. And what she hated more was how Dawn and Justyna seemed to like him. She cringed every time he shook, which was often even after he had recovered from his minute shock.

"This forest scares me…" he said, "I tried to look for a way around it but…I don't have really good pokemon and…" he started to cry; this made Anna have to get up and walk to the other side of the clearing where she couldn't hear him. She sat there sulking with Kisa. When it was nearly afternoon, from what her poketech told her, her friends informed her that Momigi would be traveling with them since they were all going the same way. Anna was completely against it but couldn't protest because her friends and the kid had already walked into the darker trees.

Anna stayed a distance beyond respect behind them. Kisa walked slowly carrying her with the same sudden dislike for Momiji. Justyna and Riley ran back to her after a while to ask what was wrong.

"I frickin' hate Momiji." She replied.

"Oh Anna." Justyna said rolling her eyes and waving her hand.

"I'm serious; his voice annoys me so much."

"It is really annoying!"

Justyna loyally joined Anna's cause and stayed behind with her. Dawn and Momiji remained ahead, talking about kitties and bunnies.

Paul floated awkwardly among Dawn, Momiji, and Balloony. He floated away from Momiji because he felt dread near him; and because he was just an annoying kid. Being near Dawn made him worried. Balloony made him shiver whenever he turned to squeak happily with no mouth but a big yellow X. He ended up floating back where Justyna and Riley's constant optimistic aura lifted his worries.

They walked and trained, separated, and caught two wurmple that Dawn suggested for their pokedex.

Twilight had arrived when the forest became alive with caws and hoots. Bird pokemons' wings could be heard. They walked through a thicket so dark that the pokemon flying towards them didn't see them. One flew into Momiji and there were soon sounds of screams and angry caws. Justyna had Makowca out of her pokeball already and offered some light. It was a murkrow that had attacked, it had a large hat and was overall of a great size. Anna simply stood there, not inclined to help at all. Dawn quickly ordered Balloony and Paul to attack but the dark murkrow was unaffected by their ghost attacks. It pecked them angrily.

The light source suddenly changed; Makowca viciously tackled the murkrow, scorching its wings so that it stayed grounded. Justyna then quickly threw a Darkball and epically won.

Anna wanted to pull out the Pokecatch but Justyna dismissed it.

"His name shall be Monty Python." She said holding the pokeball, "Because he knows comedy."

Momiji lay crying on the forest floor. Anna laughed heartily.

Monty stayed out and perched on Justyna's head at Anna's request, because he made Momiji uncomfortable. The bird seemed to know it and glowered over the kid.

The night was getting darker when they conveniently came to small meadow that was lighter that the other parts of the forest. They made camp and ate and were almost dreaming when Momiji cried, "I can't sleep!"

"Dawn can sing you a lullaby." Justyna muttered, annoyed from the exhaustion of hatred. Monty cawed angrily.

Dawn actually tried but failed. Momiji admitted that he had slept a lot the previous day because he was too scared to move on his own; he really couldn't sleep.

They decided to pack up and keep moving since staying meant that Momiji's cries would keep them up anyway. It wasn't very hard for Anna, Justyna, and Dawn to stay up; they were a bookworm, a hyperactive thing, and a person who never got enough sleep anyways after all. Their pokemon returned to their pokeballs except for Monty who had just awakened and Paul who hated his ball and dozed in Dawn's bag.

They walked until their poketechs read two o'clock. Then Momiji suddenly collapsed into sleep. They hastily sent up their sleeping bags and slept in the treeshade. They left Momiji in the road, hoping that trucks might be driving through Eterna Forest late at night.

All of them slept until noon; they were all so tired of their high-pitched burden that Justyna didn't complain about wasting daylight. They kept walking through the dark forest. Anna and Justyna stayed behind as usual with Paul, Kisa, and Riley. Momiji and Dawn were walking ahead but she seemed annoyed with him too; she walked in silence as he talked. Balloony was sent out again; he floated happily around Dawn and Momiji. Paul glowered as well.

Soon they came to a large clearing that had substantial sunlight shining on it. They ate and trained there until the sky darkened. They planned to sleep there. Justyna sent out Monty who flew happily for a short time until he and Paul looked to the sky where a two ton cloud appeared, bringing heavy rain, sudden lightning and hard thunder.


	18. Silent Balloon

Sheets of rain started falling all at once. There was a flash of lightning with almost immediate thunderclap. Balloony gave a high squeaky shriek. It waved its string hands over its head but they were blatantly useless. It spazzed in the air, turned tail and floated away full speed into the woods.

"Balloony!" Dawn called. She ran after him with Momiji right behind her and Paul following resentfully.

"Dawn!" Justyna called. She returned her unhappy riolu to his pokeball and ran after them clutching her equally peeved Monty. Anna returned Kisa to her pokeball and followed them into the shelter of the trees. It was a very poor shelter with many holes in the ceiling. The wind moved the treetops apart so even more rain got them. They all caught up and regrouped in the driest place they could find; they were all soaked.

"Balloony's gone." Dawn sighed, still looking around despite.

The lightning and thunder flashed and the forest shuttered. They huddled under a tree; Anna was uncomfortably close to Momiji. The lightning flashed again and Justyna quickly pointed to an area beyond the trees.

"There was some building over there!"

She rushed out of the trees towards it, still holding Monty. The sky flashed again and the gang saw her running towards a large mansion. They followed, running across the treeless and rainfull expanse.

"Shouldn't we knock first?" Momiji asked but he was largely ignored.

They pushed the doors open and collapsed onto a long purple rug. The door slammed behind them. The four quickly caught their breath and stood up. Justyna let Monty out of a chokehold. Paul spun around rapidly trying to shake off any rain; it was so heavy it could dampen even a ghost.

"Nobody lives here." Dawn observed; the room was elegant but dirty and worn.

"Sweet!" Justyna said, "I love haunted houses." How ignorantly accurate.

There were two stairways leading to the second floor on the left and right in front of them. Justyna ran up the left one pulling Momiji with her. Monty flew up and sat on the old chandelier, cleaning his wings. Dawn went up the second stairway with Paul. Anna released sleepy Luxio, who shook himself to attention and cautiously they entered through a door on the first floor in between the two stairwells.

It led to a long hall with a large dining table spanning it. The table looked set up for guests but there was no food and it was dirty. Anna and Luxio walked to the far right side of the room and found a small room filled with boxes filled with cottonballs and gum wrappers. She was hoping that there might be some food; old houses had tons of weird food choices for the eccentric connoisseur; Justyna might eat it. Anna was heading out of the room when Luxio ran to the far left side of the room and stopped outside the entrance to a room there, roaring. Anna called him back, the entrance looked exactly the same as the other; there was probably nothing useful in it. Plus she was lazy and wet. When Luxio retreated, a dusclops on the other side of the door sighed in relief and then disappeared.

There was a room at the top of the right stairway, Dawn and Paul explored it. It was filled mostly with books and Dawn skimmed through them with interest. She took a quite nice edition of 'Great Expectations' and deposited it in her backpack. Paul was checking out some of the picture books when he noticed a pair of red eyes looking at him. He shuppeted and floated nervously around Dawn but when he got her to look, the eyes were gone. It was just a painting of a vaguely outlined purple head. When Dawn turned back, the eyes flashed open again. The portrait winked at Paul and closed its eyes again. Paul would have done an AkWaRD TurTlE but he had no hands.

Justyna had dragged Momiji to a hallway on the second floor that contained at least twenty doors. She was disappointed to find that there were no suits of armour in the house; she could have casually led Momiji under one and with the right amount of force caused its arm to fall and hit Momiji with possibly an axe. _There might still be one in one of these roomz…_ Justyna pondered. She ordered Momiji to look at the rooms on one side of the hallway while she checked the others. Monty had wandered in, finally done self-indulging and happened to notice and alert Justyna that Momiji had disappeared into a room; their job was only to look inside. Her pokemon led her to the room and she walked inside. It looked like the other rooms except it had an Idiot Box. Momiji sat in front of it staring into the screen like, well, an idiot.

"Dude," Justyna said, "It's just static. How does it even work?"

Momiji shrugged but didn't turn around.

"It kinda looks like there's something in there…It's like staring." Justyna noted, stepping back.

"Maybe it wants a hug." Momiji said in a trance.

Anna and Dawn with Luxio and Paul had just regrouped at the top of the stairs. They pondered the whereabouts of Justyna when they heard a shrill scream. Dawn rushed to Momiji's rescue and Anna came only to watch.

They crashed through the door and beheld a floating blue television crushing Momiji into the wall. Justyna was huddling in a corner, crushing Monty. Dawn immediately ordered Paul to attack but he didn't move a ghosty muscle. He was of the ancient ilk of magic. She quickly sent out Kitty instead and ordered him to use Assist. Kitty quickly disappeared from view and appeared in time to strike the TV in the back; Faint Attack. The magically floating electrical appliance let go of Momiji and turned to Dawn; an angry :C face showed on its screen.

Suddenly Justyna threw Monty in the air and he attacked with the Faint Attack as well. The TV wobbled out of the air and stopped glowing blue. A small red figure floated out of the screen and fell over; it flickered like a dead light bulb. Anna quickly captured it and their pokedex confirmed it was a pokemon.

"Cool," Justyna said, "We were like exorcists and that rotom was like what we exorcised." Anna and Dawn rolled their eyes.

Momiji mewed weakly from behind. The TV had fallen on top of him.

"It keeps glomping me…" He whined.

Dawn rushed to help him while Justyna boasted of her realization of Kitty and his Assist Attack and so on and so forth. Paul casually floated in the air until a force came from behind him. The shuppet floated through the wall of the room into the one next door. In the room there was a shelf filled with green books, one of them which was being read by a little girl in a pink dress. She turned to Paul and smiled.

Paul returned to the other room and shuppeted loudly. Everyone got his attention but he struggled to explain what was going on. He shuppeted and floated up and down and spun and flipped. Justyna raved that Paul was on drugs. The shuppet glared at her and attacked with Night Shade. She ran onto the hall from him and he chased her into the room next door. The others followed them.

The room was empty expect for Anna, Justyna, Dawn, and Momiji and Monty and Kitty and Luxio and Paul. The shuppet shuttered and flew into the last room through the wall and returned. He stared at the three trainers and Momiji for a while. They stared back, confused. Paul quickly floated into the other room and returned again. He cast his terrible haunting on Momiji. The little boy ran scared from the room and Paul chased him into the previous room; the TV room. Dawn followed him and Justyna followed Dawn. And Anna and Luxio stayed put because they didn't care for Momiji.

"Paul, what's the matter with you?" Dawn scolded her shuppet. Kitty angrily hissed at Paul too. Monty snobbed.

"Chill Dawn. Paul is just helping." Justyna smirked.

"What's that mean?" Momiji whined.

Then a scream was heard. The three of them rushed outside and smashed into Anna who was screaming in a non-monotone voice. Luxio was hysterical as well.

"Holy shit Anna, what happened?" Justyna and Dawn cried. It was not a good sign when Anna showed emotion.

"There's a creepy little girl!" She pointed behind her where a small girl in pink stood looking at them with a sad face.

They all screamed in horror. They were at the end of the hall now; she had them cornered. They backed up against the wall when suddenly something pushed them to the ground. A huge haunter appeared out of the wall and smiled widely. There was more screaming. The gang ran away from it on instinct, not realizing that they had passed the little girl.

A troop of ghost pokemon appeared out of the wall on the other side of the hallway; gastly, more haunters, banettes, duskulls and dusclops. There were more but they all sort of blended together in a big blob of evil spiritual stuff, so it doesn't matter what was in it. They all stampeded towards the girls and Momiji. The trainers ran to the hallway's exit in time and the ghost masses collided into a bigger ball of ghosts. They made for the stairs but there was already bunches of ghost pokemon blocking it. Dawn pulled them into the room where she and Paul had been: the room with the vague painting.

They locked the door, which only bought them a second at best. Justyna quickly noticed the painting.

"That thing's staring at us!" She screamed, necessarily.

The eyes popped out of the painting and revealed themselves to be part of a large gengar. The other pokemon faded into the room through the walls. The group stood frozen against the far wall of the room. Justyna on a reflex ordered Monty to attack and the bird instinctively dashed across the room, passed through the ghosts and hit the door. Then they all stood quivering as the ghost pokemon approached.

Anna was silently sobbing in her head _Geez Momiji if you just didn't exist, we wouldn't have even met and none of this would be happening! (Somehow)_ She opened her eyes to the horror and saw that everything was frozen in place; the ghosts, her friends and the specks of dust in the air. The window revealed the sky outside to be white with lightening. In front of her stood the little girl. She looked in a temper but she was so young that it looked cute. She held up a piece of paper with some hiragana on it and waved it in front of Anna in an irritated fashion. Anna hesitantly took the paper. The girl sighed heavily and faded away.

Anna studied the paper and saw that it read 'away' but she had no idea what that meant. The paper was suddenly snatched from her fingers and she realized that time had unfrozen. Justyna had grabbed the paper.

"Away? Arako? Does it do anything?" she screamed in a panic. She thrust the paper in front of her, waving it around. The onslaught of ghosts came to a halt. She waved it again and they scooted away.

"Dude! It repels pokemon!" she exclaimed.

Justyna jumped forward and cast the paper. The ghosts hissed and backed away. Anna, Dawn and Kitty, Paul, Luxio, and Momiji carefully stayed behind her until all the pokemon had been driven away. Justyna grabbed Monty who was zonked out near the door and they ran out. Anna quickly took the paper and tied it around Luxio's tail. He then jumped around them in a circle and repelled the ghosts while they made it to the stairs.

They rushed down, casting away any further attacks with the paper. Monty and Kitty jumped into their pokemballs and Justyna cheered, "We're almost to the door!"

And as it had to be, another ghost popped out of the ground and blocked the door.

"Balloony…?" Anna said in shock. The driftblim squeaked in a deep voice. Dawn quickly checked the pokedex.

"Driftblim is recorded; he must have evolved when he ran away! But why so quic-?" Dawn never finished that sentence.

Balloony reached out with its paper arms and grabbed Dawn by the waist. A huge black hole seemed to rip out of reality as the monster did so. Balloony squeaked and driftblimed in anger. Dawn screamed. Justyna and Anna quickly grabbed her arms and tried to pull her away but the driftblim was strong for a ghost. Justyna let go of Dawn and instead karate-chopped the driftblim's arms.

Balloony squeaked and let go but tried to grab her. She fell over and avoided being caught. Momiji stood over her with his hands spread out.

"You can't hurt my friends! I will fight y-!" Balloony snatched him up and turned to carry him into the hole of darkness. Momiji tried to wiggle free but he was a weakling.

"Guys!" he called, "Help me!"

Dawn backed away quickly and announced, "I don't want Balloony as my pokemon anymore..."

Justyna had taken the paper from Luxio and was waving it around furiously. "The thing's not working anymore!" She despaired.

Anna this whole time stared at Momiji, and when he looked up at her and shouted "Save us!" she whispered, "No."

Momiji kept whining as Balloony dragged him into the hole; once they were inside, it closed up instantly and was gone. All that was left were his two pokeballs. They all stood aghast except for Anna. Dawn and Justyna turned slowly to Anna.

"That was horrible…" they said to her.

"What? I didn't see you do anything." She responded in her monotone voice.

Paul and Luxio yelped. They turned to discover another stampede of ghosts. Justyna quickly waved the piece of paper in their faces.

"Thing's still not working!"

They grabbed Momiji's pokeballs, pushed the front door open and all ran out screaming into the pouring rain.

The ghosts chased them out the front gate and then stopped. They all laughed heartily.

"Widziales jak biegali?"

"NO! Ale jaja!"


	19. We Gotta Save Henry!

The rain pounded like a drum. Anna, Justyna, and Dawn ran though it without much notice; screaming obliterates all other feelings. The dark, grabbing trees quickly vanished and let out into an open lake. There was a bridge zigzagging though it and the trio and their electric lion and floating blanket used it while, again, taking little notice of the storm around them.

Tall buildings and lights soon appeared. They ran though the streets of the city toward a large glowing pokeball sign; the Pokemon Center. They burst through the door, letting in much rain, and stood screaming for another good minute before they calmed down and welcomed the building's heating.

There were many sheltering pokemon trainers in the Pokemon Center and they all stared curiously at the three girls as they sat down and were handed large towels; Justyna was shivering, holding the paper tightly to her chest and muttering gibberish, Dawn wrapped herself tightly and stared blankly out into space while Paul lay next to her, and Anna stroked her Luxio and breathed deeply. A Nurse Joy offered them creamy hot chocolate and they were soon calm enough to reassure her that they were in no need of psychological help at the moment.

After they had warmed up, they healed their pokemon and returned them to their pokeballs for rest. They duly noted that Momiji had left them his burmy and pachirisu. Thank God for the Pokecatch. Only Paul remained to warn them of any more spirits. Since the Pokemon Center was packed and people were looking at them strangely, they decided to look for a hotel. The narrator gave Anna an umbrella and Dawn and Justyna didn't mind the rain when there were no ghosts in it. The Eterna Hotel had very fluffy beds.

The next morning, Dawn, Justyna, and Anna met a tall, dark stranger in the lobby.

"Cynthia." She introduced herself promptly, "I saw you three yesterday at the Pokemon Center. Any reason for your….uneasiness?"

"No, we're fine." Anna said sincerely. Dawn twitched and Justyna had shifty eyes.

Cynthia was also new in town and they decided to tour the town together. There were spacemen in Eterna. They were walking around eyeing everyone, especially anyone with pokemon. They headed east to escape town. They climbed up some steps and found themselves at the foot of a large golden statue of a pokemon.

"It's Dialga, ruler of time." Cynthia explained, "A deity of Sinnoh."

"I'm gonna catch that thing one day." Justyna proclaimed. Anna rolled her eyes. No, morze.

Paul was carefully sniffing the statue, it seemed. He floated behind it and shuppeted everyone over. Behind the monument was found a dark reddish plate, leaning against the side. Paul twitched in its presence. Cynthia explained that it was a special plate that enhanced pokemon abilities; she was knowledgeable of old things, it seemed.

Outside of town, mountains grew. They wandered around the grasses there, fighting pokemon. Cynthia calmly observed them. They crossed a river and that's when the mountain became noticeably larger. It towered over the whole world it seemed. Cynthia said that there was a cave somewhere but they could not find it. They could not get through so they turned back to the city.

Anna, Justyna, and Dawn did not tell Cynthia why they refused to explore the Eterna Forest, so they went south; the only direction left. The city was surrounded by tall cliffs and let out through a small building. Mean people there stopped them.

"I'm sorry; you need a bike to go any further."

"Isn't there another route?" Dawn asked.

"No, you'll need to buy a bike. Have a good day."

"Well, that's a rip-off." Justyna said as they left, "That's our only way out!"

They went to the bicycle shop in town, which was very fancy on account of all the dough it reaped. There was no one there. They instead explored the rest of the city and let their pokemon out for the after-rain air. Spacemen randomly walked up to them and eyed their pokemon, who backed away. They obsessively asked to look at them further and were chased away by Light and Luxio who did not like to be touched. They were cool like that.

"Geez, what's with them?" Justyna asked.

"They've been doing that ever since they got here." Cynthia explained, "They ask all the trainers about their pokemon; I hear they even take them away."

"What? They can't do that! It's illegal!" Dawn exclaimed. Paul nodded viciously.

"Tell that to them; I believe that's what the Bicycle Shop owner when to do. His name is Henry; nice old man." Cynthia trailed off.

"Wait? How do you know that?" Anna suddenly stopped, "Didn't you say you were new in town?"

The trio realized this and turned to Cynthia for an answer. She stared at them blankly as if _they_ were the strange ones. Then she smiled innocently.

"Well, I must be going." She fished a disc out of her pocket and handed it to them before turning and walking briskly away.

"Ta!"

"This is an HM!" Dawn examined the disc, "Why would she just give us one? They're pretty rare."

They didn't ponder that for long. The HM was Cut and it was soon taught to Kisa.

"Now we can cut down small trees!" Justyna exclaimed. There were high fives all around.

They recalled seeing puny trees in front of a rather large and terrifying building in the city. The edifice bore the funky, yellow G of Team Galactic that they all recently became aware of. Kisa tested out her new Cut abilities on the miniature oaks in the front but nothing seemed to happen.

"Oh, right. We need specific badges to activate HM moves…" Dawn said to herself.

"How's that work?" Justyna asked, tilting her head which Riley did in a similar manner, "How does a piece of plastic help a pokemon cut down trees compared to when there is no plastic present?"

Anna and Dawn rolled their eyes. It was like talking to an eggplant.

Eterna City had a gym, conveniently; it was surrounded by tall pines. When they walked in it looked like a lobby of some sort. Across the room was a single door blocked by a tall woman with brown hair and a green outfit. She spotted them and cheerfully called them over. It turned out she was the leader, Gardenia.

"Conveniently named." Anna muttered.

"Well, at least you're here." Justyna smiled, "No weird gym puzzles or anything."

Gardenia laughed.

"It wouldn't be a gym if there wasn't a puzzle!"

"Figures." Dawn said.

Gardenia disappeared through the door. Inside was what looked like a large meadow. As they explored further, they saw that in the middle of the field was a giant clock like structure designed like a flower. It was on a large square pond that was filled with sharpedos. Gyms never made it easy.

They figured out that the clock went in two different directions. Anna and Justyna went left while Dawn went right and on each end was a trainer if you couldn't have guessed. They were preppy decepticonian girls and were easily crushed by the Anna, the Dawn, and the Justyna. The clock then, like it was fixed with a good knock, collected them and let them off in a third direction and Gardenia was there.

"That wasn't so bad was it?" she asked sweetly.

"It wouldn't have been if you took out those sharpedos. I almost fell off that clock when it was spinning around!" Dawn complained. She shouldn't, she's not even battling.

Gardenia sent out a bellossom and an energetic little turtwig. Anna and Justyna responded with Staravia and Monty. The two birds flew high above the field and swooped down like hunters on the two grass pokemon. The turtwig and bellossom were fairly light and dodged the aerial dives for a good time. Staravia then flew low to the ground, toward the turtwig. The green turtle pokemon rolled away to the right. Just as it did so, Staravia swiftly turned left and circled around and hit the turtwig head on. One blow was enough to knock it out. Kisa who was watching by on the sidelines, twitched as the turtwig was smashed into the flower print walls of the gym and Staravia flew around whistling meekly. Monty smirked suggestively.

Monty managed to swoop down and grab the bellossom. It grabbed back with Vine Whip but Monty shook it off with a sharp turn. He circled the field and flew straight at the bellossom. He Pecked the thing up real bad.

The two birds were called back; flying was exhausting work. Anna sent out her Psyduck; it knew Peck and could use it sometimes. Justyna sent out Makowca, roaring to go. Gardenia sent out Roserade, who stuck a sexy pose upon release. Dawn and Kitty clapped and Paul floated in approval. Justyna immediately attacked with Flame Wheel. Makowca dashed at the Roserade who twirled away at the last second, showing off its dazzling rose hands. That routine went on for a while. Roserade was quick and keen but Makowca persistent. Psyduck stood by awaiting Anna's orders. Anna waited.

Makowca eventually slowed to catch her breath. Roserade also stopped and prepared an attack of poison needles. While it did so, Anna commanded her Psyduck. It successfully used Peck. Roserade was taken back but quickly recovered and slapped the duck away. BITCH! It then used a harsh absorb attack. Psyduck struggled to get up because of its headaching exhaustion and obesity. Roserade grabbed him for another absorbing attack when it was attacked from behind by Makowca's Flamethrower. The Roserade turned to face the quilava and was attacked from the other side by Psyduck's Water Gun. It extinguished the flames and knocked out the Roserade. Makowca and Psyduck did an epic high five before Psyduck collapsed.

Gardenia presented them with the Forest Badge. She assured them that with it, no small tree would go uncut.

Outside, it was already dark. Time defiantly flew when one was pokemon battling. Justyna dragged the rest of her friends back to the hotel and they relaxed in their fluffy beds.

"Shouldn't we get to the Galactic Building as fast as we can?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, what about that Bicycle guy?" Anna joined in.

"I'm sure he'll be there tomorrow." Justyna yawned.

They and their pokemon slept. In their dreams, they were worshipped by Rorschach and there were some hilarious evil clowns involved as well.

**Anna**

**Kisa the Grotle, Staravia, Luxio, Psyduck**

**Justyna**

**Riceball the Prinplup, Makowca the Quilava, Riley the Riolu, Light the Jolteon, Monty Python the Murkrow**

**Dawn**

**Paul the Shuppet, Kitty the Skitty**

**Cynthia rocks by the way.**


	20. Rock Mash

Dawn broke. She, Anna, and Justyna awoke and lounged around their rooms for an hour, wanting to go back to sleep. When they finally couldn't, they dressed and went to the free breakfast buffet. They had delicious pancakes with pure maple syrup and muffins. They then lounged for another hour or so because eating was an energy-consuming task.

It was then about two in the afternoon. They set off to kick Team Galactic's arse.

The building and its tiny trees towered over them like an omen of doom. Kisa snapped the trees in half with Cut and they stepped into the garden. It was a very well kept evil garden, ironically. They entered the spiked building. The lobby gave the feeling of a waiting room at the doctor. They dallied, for there was only one other door in the room and it was closed.

It automatically opened sometime later and a spaceman stepped into the lobby, only to be attacked by Riceball, who was out. They sneaked past the dazed guard along with Paul, Kisa, Riceball, and Riley.

On the other side were two staircases; one was guarded by unaware spacemen, and the other was not. Dawn and Paul urged to go up the devoid of guards stairs but Justyna argued how obvious a trap it was. They went up the second staircase, easily mopping the floor with the guards, although that only seemed to make it dirtier. At the top of the stairs, they were attacked by two more guards, completely out of nowhere. This time, they dusted the ceiling with them, which worked out quite well.

"Obvious trap?" Dawn glared at Justyna very matter-of-factly.

"Who cares," Justyna replied optimistically, "It's good exercise for the pokemon."

Riceball and Riley cheered and Kisa smiled gently.

The stairs had led them to a storage room with no other exit. They returned downstairs and went up the other case. The next room had two more similar staircases. Justyna and, emotionlessly, Anna battled their way up the guarded stairs to another storage room. This continued for three more floors; by the end, Kisa and Riceball were sore from a good workout. Riceball commented on that and Kisa gave her a disgruntled look. Riley was energetic still.

Dawn had made her way up the unguarded flights. She was quickly on the fifth and final floor but was pretty worn out from climbing all those stairs. The top floor was a large complex room with black wallpaper that twinkled with lights like stars. Dawn casually explored the room. She stepped out of a small hallway to a bigger section of the room that stretched forward like a church aisle. At the Alter was a spacewomen with ridiculous purple hair; she towered over a middle-aged man kneeling in front of her.

"What the hell did you do to that man?" Dawn demanded in shock. The women noticed her and stuttered. Then there was an awkward silence.

"This!" she yelled uncertainly.

She threw a pokeball and released a zubat. Dawn knew from experience to duck. She swiveled around and sent out Kitty, crying a command. Kitty viciously spun around, showering the room with hearts. The zubat was luckily a female and she stopped midair and stared at Kitty with a dear and honest loving look in her eyes. Kitty Headbutted the zubat full speed into the space wallpaper, crushing the little starlights.

"I see…" the spacewomen said, returning the zubat, "I do not believe we have introduced ourselves."

She suddenly gained confidence and flipped her hair and said, "I am Commander Jupiter. Who dares challenge me?"

"Your face!" Dawn responded after a dramatic pause. Anna and Justyna should have been there; they would have been so proud. And so would have Vlk.

Kitty broke into a Tackle and sped towards the commanding tower of purple hair. Jupiter reacted quickly and threw another pokeball. It released a massive skuntank that deflected Kitty like a tank. It made a disgusting noise and lifted its leg. The room smelled horrible. At least to everyone else.

"It smells like victory!" Jupiter squealed in delight, inhaling deeply.

Dawn recovered from the horrible stench and commanded Kitty but he was already lightheaded from the smell. She returned him to the sanctity of his pokeball and Paul floated into battle. He was already a ghost; he need not fear death from smell.

The skuntank Tackled Paul with no effect. Paul floated behind it and used Shadow Sneak with little damage on the tank. He floated back and awaited his next attack from Dawn. The skuntank whipped around then and breathed fire all over him. Paul desperately floated out of the flames and descended to the ground. Dawn fell to her knees screaming.

"Paul! Get up!"

He couldn't, for he had no legs. He weakly floated and then fell like a rag. The skuntank now towered over him and Dawn. Its horrible stench destroyed the very air. Jupiter laughed in her preppy evil voice and her skuntank chuckled along. She had just begun an evil speech, when her skuntank wobbled to the floor, grasping its head in pain. It glowed faintly of blue. Dawn looked up and then behind her to see Anna and her Psyduck, straining to keep up a Confusion attack that was working against them.

There was a flash of blue and the skuntank was flipped over by a sphere of blue energy. Riley ran up from the side and kicked it in the gut. Then he raised his hand, which started to glow, and smashed the skuntank with a Force Palm. The skuntank cried out but was silenced. It was unconscious.

Dawn was now cradling Paul in her hands and Anna and Riley were beside her. Psyduck had a headache so he went to lie down. Justyna walked past, grabbed Jupiter by the shirt and pulled her close to her face.

"What did you do with Henry?"

Henry was the middle-aged man cowering in the corner with a buneary and clefairy. Justyna rushed to help him up; he was fine. But when she turned back to Jupiter, she and her pokemon were gone. That's what you get for being considerate and polite.

Dawn was weeping over her little shuppet, who was badly burned. It shuppeted weakly trying to reassure her. The Bicycle man looked over at them strangely.

"They gonna get to a Pokemon Center?" He whispered to Justyna.

"Dude, you gotta let them build up the moment." She hissed, watching tearfully.

After several more minutes they were done. The building was refreshingly clean of spacemen guards as they made their way downstairs.

The Pokemon Center welcomed them and Henry gratefully and healed Paul up quite nicely. Dawn took him back to the hotel for a rest and a much needed room service diner. Meanwhile, Henry gratefully invited the other two girls to his Bicycle Shop.

"Three bikes? One for each of us?" Anna asked when he offered.

"Nope, I want two. Dawn doesn't get one." Justyna joked about the obvious.

They were beautiful beasts of foldable plastic and Justyna stuffed her and Dawn's bikes into her bag. Anna took one as well although she knew that they would only use it for Cycling Road.

The whole city treated them like heroes. The Galactic Building was quickly demolished by the townspeople's pokemon and plans were set to build a library dedicated to Anna and Justyna but mostly, to Dawn and Paul. Anna approved. They wandered the city and were congratulated by _almost _everyone; they were _advised_ by one guy to go visit someone called The Underground Man and then received no Thank You.

The Underground Man was really old. He was startled when they came in but then he smiled and thanked them for their service to the city. He then hastily shuffled to his closet and pulled out a toolbox. He handed it to them and explained that it was an Explorer's Kit.

"Sweet, can it take us to South America?" Justyna asked excitedly, "Because I've always wanted a talking dog! Or pokemon…you know though? I think there is a pokemon that talks…" She drifted off and no one really listened. Anna, however, took in all that the Old Man explained. When they left his house she asked Justyna if she wanted to go underground.

"Are there colourful birds down there? Like a chatot or something? Wait! Those can talk!"

"Oh Justyna…" Anna rolled her eyes.

It was already evening by now but they were hardcore and didn't need sleep. Unlike their narrator. They used the Explorer's Kit and before they knew it, they were in a brightly lit tunnel, confused.

"Did we fall or something?"

"Don't question creepy old men, dude. Them and their crazy balloons…"

They wandered the bare tunnels. Anna noticed many of the sparkles the Underground Man had told her about. She and Justyna fanned out and inspected some of them. Anna found several spheres, which Kisa held happily. Justyna had fun with a sledgehammer. Riley had to watch out. She came upon one particularly shiny wall and hit it hard. The outer wall fell off and revealed a vague portion of a treasure. She would have hit it again if Anna hadn't noticed and stopped her. Anna took the little pickaxe in the Kit and gently chipped away at the rock. Justyna, in boredom, went to smash more walls. Justyna dug up a Dusk Stone.

Many moments later, Anna had uncovered the treasure; it was a fossil of some sort. She put it in her bag. Feeling satisfied, she returned to the surface. Justyna was brought back too and was bedazzled as to the whereabouts of her sledgehammer.

In the late hour, they returned to their hotel. Dawn, Paul and Kitty were already asleep together. Anna snapped a picture of the scene with her phone and set it as her new wallpaper.

The next morning, they informed Dawn of their new bikes and happily rode down south. Anna and Dawn and Paul rode leisurely down Cycling Road, hardly peddling. Anna let her Staravia out to fly overhead. Justyna rode calmly too, but very much ahead of them, with a happy Riley on her head and Monty flying overhead as well. He drifted away to join Anna's bird and they had a long chaw.

Cycling Road ended and they rode out onto a grassy path spotted with a few trees. They rode comfortably alongside the peacefully scenery. They realized that the land suddenly dipped downward when they had already reached the bottom of the slope. They tried to bike back up the slope, it wasn't that steep, but it was muddy and neither Dawn nor Anna had the energy to bike uphill.

They biked onward seeking help. They passed between some familiar mountains and trees and found themselves in the quarry that is Oreburgh. They were all heavily disappointed, but still Justyna attempted to lift their spirits by leading them to the Coal Museum they had enjoyed so much. After packing their bikes and venturing inside, they were relieved that the museum's large coal block was still there. It calmed them right down. Until they ran into an old face.

A spastic guy in a labcoat and dorky glasses came over from across the room with his arms wide. He smiled widely and talked very excited. In gibberish. Dawn and Anna stood there and tried to avoid him like last time except that last time, Justyna was not with them. She started speaking to the man, also in gibberish with Riley mimicking her. They talked loudly and aggressively as if arguing. They waved their arms and attracted lots of unwanted attention from other museum visitors.

They, apparently, reached a conclusion. Justyna grabbed Anna's bag and removed the fossil rock she had found. She pushed it towards the labcoat spazz who took it and shuffled away. Anna and Dawn were about to shout and complain when she grabbed them both and dragged them outside the museum.

"Fresh air!" she cried when they got out there. She twirled and breathed in and then swiftly turned and grabbed and dragged them back into the museum before they could enjoy the smoky coal air.

The creepy man was just inside the door, waiting for them. Paul hid behind Dawn in confusion. The man shoved a pokeball into Anna's hands and turned to leave.

"Hey! Where's my fossil?" She demanded in despair.

He squealed in annoyance and hurried away, waving his arms.

"Taro! Arani Poko!" Justyna exclaimed.

Anna and Dawn looked at her, stumped and peeved.

"Yay…! You got a pokemon…!" Justyna translated, waiting for their joy.

Anna quickly threw up the pokeball and it released a small grey and blue dinosaur. The cranidos looked up at her with large blue eyes. She decided to name her Cranidos.

They walked through the streets of the city with their staples and their birds, hoping to find someone who could help the get out of the quarry. And they did. They embraced in hugs with their old buddy Roark. They stumbled into a café and sat down for lunch and chat. They showed him Anna's new Cranidos and he showed them his newly evolved Rampardos. The waitress eyed it with caution when she brought them their tea and coffee.

"I'm actually super glad I found you." He smiled sheepishly, "I kind of forgot to give you something when you beat my gym…" He gave them a tan coloured disc. "That's Rock Smash. You can use it to smash small boulders."

"Good." Justyna sighed, "There's a lota small stuff out there..."

They told him of their dilemma and Roark proved himself very convenient.

"My Rampardos knows Rock Climb. That can get you back up there."

It was only after afternoon so they and Roark hiked up out the quarry and rode his Rampardos up the mountain one by one. They hugged goodbye and, again, were on their way.

They returned by the grassy path they took. Cycling Road soon came into view. They were confused for the fifth time. They had not noticed that there was stuff under Cycling Road.

**I have a feeling someone's going to be mad or very WTF over this chapter….If it is then please know that it's like one in the morning right now and I am falling asleep and just wanna finish this fricking chapter to make you people happy. *cry***


	21. Emoness Attracts

There most certainly was stuff under there! There was a large open field home to a herd of ponyta and a cave visible from a distance. And there were also several trees but not a forest's worth. Justyna raced towards it full speed, coming back to herd Anna and Dawn towards it.

"We should get to the next city…" Dawn pressed.

"Nonsense Dawn! We have a whole mess of time!" Indeed. Somewhat Timeless Adventures awaited them!

The ponyta standing in the meadow scattered when Justyna charged in. Anna released her psyduck, seeing it as a good opportunity to take advantage of the type situation. Psyduck was quickly defeated by a small feisty ponyta.

"That's just sad." Justyna commented while Riceball dowsed another ponyta.

"And very stereotypical." Dawn noted.

She and Paul stood there as Justyna and Anna chased and trained with the ponyta. Dawn sent out Kitt, who playfully chased the ponyta, who ran in turn. The skitty was much too cute to not be deadly.

Justyna and Riceball beat their way through the ponyta across the meadow and under the bridge. Here, the ground lifted into a cliff side. She walked alongside it and saw the big jutting cave entrance but refused to take it; she had a funny feeling there was a different entrance somewhere. Her obscure senses were correct. Under the bridge was a small, almost unseeable, entrance. She called to Riley but he didn't need an order to charge into the cave without thinking.

Justyna followed it without thinking too, leaving Riceball to keep watch outside. Thinking, she waddled back to the others. Kisa and Luxio were out as well as Paul and Kitty. Riceball called to them and pointed back to the bridge and the cave hidden underneath it. The pokemon rolled their eyes. They knew their humans all too well by now. Kisa nudged Anna and she and Luxio guided her towards the cave. Kitty followed excitedly and Dawn ran after him with Paul floating behind them as fast as he could.

The cave was found, and they all squeezed through the entrance. They were unused to its darkness; the way it was in reality. Luxio gave off a shower of sparks that quickly vanished, only telling them that there were stairs to their right. They cautiously got down them. Then they quickly became lost. Even Paul couldn't see through this dark.

Since their pokemon did not TELL them why they were there, the two woman didn't have the sense to call out to Justyna. So they were _quite _surprised when an eerie blue light came from the darkness. Anna and Dawn backed up against the nearest wall, holding their pokemon tight. Riceball broke free and rushed out of their small field of recognition; they cried after her. She soon waddled back, quite frustrated, with Justyna behind her. You could now tell because Riley was on her head with an Aura Sphere in his palm that glowed brightly.

"You guys made it! Isn't this cave great?"

"It's big and dark." Dawn stated, unamused, "And we're lost!"

"Look at the stagathings on the ceilings and walls!" Justyna gasped, "Nature working very, very slowly!"

Anna sighed and glanced over at Dawn. She, in her, lightly surprised, monotone voice, exclaimed, "Ahh." Justyna shrieked and jumped; startled Riley fell off her head and the Aura Sphere and the light disappeared.

"What?" Justyna shouted, she looked around in the useless dark.

"Something was standing next to Dawn." Anna said, "I'm sure it was nothing. Calm down and turn the light back on."

Riley made another Aura Sphere. The light revealed nothing around Dawn. Anna shrugged; perhaps she just had yaoi on her mind.

"Alright," Justyna said, quickly getting over her shock, "Let's check out the cave." They all grouped around the light and followed her. It was then when Dawn stopped and listened carefully. She had felt something. She glanced at Paul who had stopped as well. She heard a low breathing sound. RaSpY. She turned around slowly.

"Oh," she said, surprised.

"WHAT?"

When the light was back on again, they shined it over by Dawn. In front of her was a small, blue, fat shark. Dawn quickly whipped out the pokedex, which told them that the creature was a gible.

"It does math?" Justyna asked.

The gible ignored Anna and Justyna; it stared at Dawn with a blank yet unmovable expression. She looked back at it without phasing. After several minutes of it not going away, she stepped back. The gible stepped forward.

"Aw, it likes you." Anna said.

"But she glared at it with hard, soulless eyes…" Justyna said. Dawn glared at her.

"Maybe it's attracted to Dawn's emoness." Anna joked.

After several more minutes of the gible not leaving, they determined that that must have been true. So Dawn took out a pokeball and the gible was welcomed inside. She stared at it, considering the situation.

"Yay." Justyna offered, "You caught a gible."

Dawn released her new pokemon, who stared at her again. She noticed that he had a long dorsal fin on his back. Awkwardly long.

"I think I'll call him Anthony." She said. Anthony gave a monotone squeak of approval.

They explored the cave some more, until Dawn realized that Makowca could produce a much larger light source than Riley. Then they explored the whole cave with Riley retiring on a Justyna head. There were tons of rock pokemon and more gibles. Paul noticed Anthony waving to a bunch of gibles that looked at him in disbelief and shouted "WTF?" In gible of course. To which he responded with a shrug.

The cave came to a dead end. While they turned to leave, they saw a compact disk lying on the floor.

"It's a TM; Earthquake." Anna saw when Dawn picked it up.

"How'd it get here?" Justyna said

"Maybe the gibles made it." Dawn said sarcastically. Anthony glanced up sharply when she said so and sighed with relief when he saw that she wasn't seriously considering it. He was taught the move and the TM was put out of their mind.

They ventured back, dealing with the rock pokemon in their ways. When they came outside, it was raining. At least they were under a bridge. Anna suggested that they go back in the cave.

"Good idea, but we already went in this cave; let's go in that one!" Justyna pointed towards the one in the rain, several meters away. Dawn and Anna were reluctant to go out in the rain, so Riceball lightly Water Gunned them. They ran after Justyna, through the rain and into the other cave.

It was dark again; Makowca gladly helped. They kept out her, Riley, Kisa, Paul, and Anthony. The cave had very straight walls that spiraled downward. Since they were wet and in the cave, Anna and Dawn joined Justyna in exploring it. Paul twitched when they agreed to it. He felt bad things in the straight walls. Things…that were…not straight. Yet through that he also felt a twinge of sadness and fright, hiding in the back of the cave. Riley passed through his mind and he puffed up his ghostly chest and floated after Dawn and the rest.

**I love stories; look at all the stuff I can make myself do and get away with!**


	22. Dale, Dale, Dale

"Wayward Cave." Dawn said. She had checked her manual.

"Wonder why they call it that." Anna muttered.

They soon found out.

The place was a natural maze. There were tons of turns at each corner and most paths were obscured by small rocks, causing them to go another way. Cranidos' new Rock Smash ability seemed to make no great difference. The way was led by Justyna and Makowca, followed by Riley. Anna, Kisa, and Cranidos walked on her right and Dawn, Paul, and Anthony on her left.

The worst thing about the caves was that many rocks were pokemon: geodudes, bronzer, and zubats even. That part was very unusual, but it was too dark to ask questions. They tried not to wander away from Makowca, their source of illumination, but the zubats' constant noise scared them in all directions.

That was the worst part of the caves for at least half an hour. When they got deeper into the cave, they came to a fork. Neither path seemed to be blocked by small rocks; there were several pebbles on the floor though…Anna decided that they should go left. The path sloped downward but the ceiling stayed the same level. The ground continued to fall until they entered a very high corridor with thousands of beautiful stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Unlike the dungy coloured walls, the formations were clear like crystal and very large; some had connected with the floor. Kisa, Riley and Cranidos admired it all. Makowca seemed eager to burn something.

Justyna was completely stunned by the cave architecture as well, and jumped when Anna cried in a strained monotone voice, "Zombies!"

Around them, people were emerging from behind formations. They were all either young boys or girls or chubby mountain men.

"You found us!" They cried.

_The sad, sad tale of the Wayward Cave dwellers_

_Is that upon a night like the one currently outside,_

_They sought refuge in this cave. _

_Wandered and_ _traveled they did;_

_Deep into the cave,_

_Until they reached the clear ceiling ballroom._

_And there they would stare at the thorns of crystal_

_Until the way back left their memory,_

_And they dwelled in the Cave. 4EVA._

"You remember the way back?"

"Did you bring food? I'm sick of eating paras!"

At the mention of food, the shouting lost people got quiet and looked toward the three girls and their pokemon, expecting. The crystal ballroom grew silent. It stayed that way for a minute. Then the room exploded with the shrill screams of three girls and whimpers, bays, rawrs, and ekes from six pokemon.

They scrambled up the cave rocks back the way they came. The dwellers shrieked wildly and jumped after them. They could have caught up to them fairly fast if they hadn't been pushing.

The ground beneath them gradually got more even and the way more narrow.

"Why are we running?" Justyna called, breathlessly.

"ARE YOU JOKING? They're gonna eat us!" Dawn shrieked.

"Maybe they want fruit! I got some with-"

There was a loud ROAWARAWRWOOF.

"Shit!"

They reached the fork they had come to before but in their terror, they didn't turn the way they had come but went straight down the other path. The second path didn't change size but twisted a lot. They were just about exhausted when they reached a small cave room. They collapsed, not caring that they could hear a faint roawararawrwoof behind them.

"Ah! Don't eat me!" shouted a frightened voice. Anna pointed to where the sound was coming from and Makowca quickly shone there light. A boy maybe a year younger than them was covering in a corner.

"Light!" he cried, "It was so dark before…" He crawled over to them and fell on Dawn with a big needy hug. She awkwardly hugged him back. The roaring behind them was getting louder.

"Aww man, they're gonna eat us!" Justyna said in a vain effort to make a joke. She laughed weakly and whimpered.

They all got as far back as they could; Makowca stood in front of them in now instinctual protection. Cranidos backed her up along with Anthony who really just kinda stood there. The rest all huddled together quietly. They heard the hungry cave people fill up the room. They had a funny feeling that they could see them in the dark. Granted, they didn't laugh. That would have been just cynical.

They could hear the muddy footsteps of the cave people drawing closer. Anna heard Dawn whisper '_I love you,'_ but was unsure as to whom. The cave people must have been right there; the smell was overwhelming. It was deadly silent. Suddenly there was a loud scream but not of fear; insanity.

After that, of course, the room lit up in flames as Makowca unleashed a Flamethrower. The previous defending Cranidos and Anthony recoiled. Justyna kept screaming. She threw two pokeballs and let out Riceball and Light. Quickly she commanded with another crazed scream of gibberish. Cease Makowca, Riceball did a powerful Water Gun and Light a shocking Thunderbolt. Justyna laughed mockingly. The cave people were stunned and retreated slightly. Justyna roared and the attack began anew. Anna quickly stood up and released Luxio. He helped Light as Kisa hit the cavers with Razor Leaf. The cave people were quickly beaten out of the room. Justyna then charged to the exit and Makowca let out a supa huge fireball. It chased the cave people down the cave hall. Anna and Dawn pulled the scared boy onto Kisa and they raced after Justyna. Riley was wrapped around her head, refusing in shock to do anything.

The fire, water, and lightning attacks continued and were assisted by a blue flaming attack by Anthony, who jumped on Luxio's back and rode him, attacking. They fought there way down the twisting hallway until they came to the fork again. Paul shrieked, pointing them the right way to the exit. Riley came to his senses and jumped off the Justyna. When they quickly accounted for everyone, Riley and Paul started to glow, blue and purple respectably. They ran down the way they came as if guided by a mysterious power. The others followed without question. When they had gone, the cave dwellers peaked down the path out of their hiding spots and renewed their chase.

They had been running for nearly five minutes. Anna and Dawn seemed to be near dead.

"Stop…" Dawn breathed, "I think we lost them…"

The fateful roawararawrwoof told them otherwise.

"AHHAAHHAHHAHAH!" Justyna screamed and continued to run after Riley and Paul. Anna and Dawn cried in soreness and followed.

The roars grew louder faster and faster. Fear was the only thing that inspired Anna and Dawn to keep running. When they looked back, they could swear that the cave people were running on fours. The pokemon they had stumbled with at the beginning were luckily able to hide as rocks. Anna silently cursed them.

Riley called out loudly. The exit was visible, not thirty feet in front of them. The cave people could see it too and they ran even faster. Anna and Dawn screamed even louder.

Then there was a loud smash and the whole cave shook. There were several more loud smashes and shakes. A rock from the ceiling nearly hit Anna. More rocks were falling behind them however, and the monsters were getting the worst of it. Anna and Dawn were running in pure terror; it seemed like they had been running for hours. They both opened their mouths to scream yet again but instead, tripped and got a mouth full of wet grass and dirt.

They quickly spit it out and looked back at the cave. The inside was dark and invisible from the lighter outside. Then they saw a small shape emerge. Cranidos ran to the side of the cave entrance and smashed it with its head. It smashed the other side and ran out of the way, leaping for Anna She hugged her tightly. Paul and Anthony on a Luxio made it out just in time and pounced into their masters' arms.

The cave top collapsed and the roaring of the cave dwellers was shut out. Anna and Dawn took a breath to shout in joy when the rocks at the top trembled and fell away. A lone cave dweller squeezed himself out. It glared them down until it noticed.

"Ai! It's raining!" It hissed. True, the downpour had not ceased.

"I'm going back inside." It said, shielding its head from the rain. It crawled back inside the hole and patched it up with more rocks. Complete silence.

Dawn and Anna had not taken their eyes off of the cave for a second and when he disappeared, they still stared at the spot, mouths agape, before turning to look at each other in confusion. They laughed weakly.

They slowly recovered their senses and realized that Justyna and her pokemon were lying on the grass behind them getting out every last bit of insanity that was in them. They had run around in circles, fell over, and lay there yelling until they faded into quiet. Now all that could be heard was the rain.

"Wow. You saved me."

Kisa was laying beat with the boy apparently over his traumatic experience. He stared at Anna and Dawn in amazement.

"You bet we did!" Justyna barked.

Anna and Dawn gave him a thumbs-up and then fell over in exhaustion.

The boy jumped off Kisa and walked over to them. He kneeled and pulled something out of his pocket.

"I'm so grateful, really. I can only repay you with this. It's an TM; Flash. It lights up dark areas…I'm sure that's evident though, heh. I'm Dale by the way."

"THAT THING WOULD HAVE BEEN SO HELPFUL WHEN WE FIRST GOT HERE." Justyna exhaled at the top of her voice. She then fell asleep.

The persisting rain kept at it, just to torment them. Dawn, Anna and their pokemon forced themselves up and dragged themselves under the bridge. Riceball and an unhappy Makowca dragged Justyna, Light, and Riley under there too and they all fell asleep.

**Wow….who doesn't love scary cave people…? I'm not gonna sleep tonight. I just know it. *cry* But look on the bright side; Anna and Dawn got tons of exercise. :D**


	23. Obscure emoness a bit too extreme

Dale was writing poetry when they woke up. He had black hair, green-painted nails…a-and he wore dark but not black clothing. He also had a drape floating over his shoulder. It turned out to be a Mismagius. While they ate breakfast, she floated next to Paul. Her face was totally blank but Paul could sense her invisible smile. He sheepishly floated away. Dale also explained his arrival at the cave.

"The other day, me and Mismagius came down from Eterna. Those guys in spacesuits were trying to take her! So we got all the way down here and then we suddenly felt really sad. So sad…so we went into that cave there, and those cave people saw us. They chased us until we lost them and hid in that room you found me in. And then we just sat there." Dale pulled her close as he explained.

"You were so sad you just wandered into a cave?" Justyna asked in disbelief, Anna nodding in question.

"I hate when that happens." Dawn agreed. Paul nodded in silent understanding.

After breakfast, Dale decided to come with them to Hearthome, the next city along the way. They pokeballed their pokemon but Kisa, Riley, and Paul and went down the familiar grassy path toward Oreburgh but turned east towards another large mountain probably containing loads of caves. They managed to convince each other to go inside the large ominous cave leading through.

Now having the TM, Luxio used Flash and the cave was illuminated. They walked alongside a river that crawled through the cave; Anna had assumed that it came out the other side. Now having light, they could pick out the sleeping, curled up geodudes from the boulders; this saved them much Rock Smashing.

Soon they came to a path that forked into a straight path covered in boulders and one that surprisingly sloped upwards as-

"Stairs!" Dale exclaimed, "In a cave?"

"Sure, cave people were smart." Justyna said, laughing weakly.

They still took those stairs. Up them, on a large platform over the rest of the cave, they could see stalagmites and bacon and other cave crap as far as the eyes could see. Justyna took it all in and pointed out formations.

"What is so interesting about all this?" Dawn sighed while they waited and listened, "It's just a cave."

"Dawny…"

"Do not call me Dawny!" she hissed.

"Dawn, life is too short, well not really but you know, to not enjoy. Look at how cool the cave looks from up here! It's like a winter wonderland but it's brown and inside. It's breath-taking!" Justyna exclaimed passionately, gesturing with her arms.

"But it's not perfect."

They all jolted and spun around to where the voice had come form. They immediately were shocked again. Dale hid his face in Anna's shoulder. The man was aged by angst and frustration. He had lifeless eyes, no emotion whatsoever. Not even a neutral one. He had spiky blue hair and a retro suit.

"Spaceman!" Dale shouted when he looked up out of curiosity.

"Nonsense," the man curtly replied, "I just admire their fashion sense."

Anna and Dawn exchanged looks of doubt but didn't say anything. Justyna and Dale seemed to accept that.

"You admire this cave's meager formations and forget that outside, there is evil! There is crime and hate and bad stuff!" He said with lack for a better word.

Anna wondered where he was talking about. After all, this was the pokemon world.

"Yeah, I know." Justyna replied, "But that's why you gotta admire everything! Life's too short to complain and be depressed." Dale nodded.

"That optimism…I will crush it." The man replied coldly. Dawn was curious as to how.

"When I rebuild this world, it will be perfect. No crime or hate or bad stuff. A heaven on Earth will rise up from the ashes of the old Hell!"

"You write poetry?" Dale asked modestly, "It sounds pretty good but, maybe destroying the world and 'rebuilding' is a bit much…"

The man turned to him in frustration. Emos like him should understand his plans perfectly!

"Is that what you think?" Dale along with Mismagius nodded, backing up, quite intimidated. "Poser." The man snuffed. He turned and power walked down the stairs.

"Hey…" Dale whined. There was a group hug to make him feel better.

"SO who was that guy anyways?" Justyna asked, "Spaceman err….?"

"I don't think he even said his name." Dawn noted.

"Whatever, he was scary and I'm glad he's gone." Anna said. Luxio snuffed. He was too cool for evil.

They kept walked until they found stairway down and not far from that, the exit. Out in the afternoony air there was more of the river they had seen inside. There was a small canyon, passable by overhead bridges, and below there was the river and a waterfall. And some mountain guys.

Heartily, they battled with them. They afterwards were offered hot chocolate.

"It's summer…" Dawn said.

"Didn't you hear little lady? Temperature's dropping all over the Pokemon World. People don't know why but it's a great excuse for hot chocolate!" a mountain man pushed a mug towards her.

"Yeah Dawn, join in the hot chocolately goodness." Justyna scarfed down her chocolate and had to eat two sandwiches to ease the burning.

The time quickly soared with those mountain guys and soon it was evening. They decided to travel a bit more, and then fell asleep quickly. In the morning, they made it down the rest of the mountain into a meadow overflowing with flowers and pokemon. They let out their own and trained and relaxed for a bit.

Dale turned out to have a breloom in a checkered neckerchief who enjoyed the open meadow. Mismagius continued to make advances on Paul, floated closer when his attention was on the mischievous pokemon of his trainer and friends. Light, Luxio, and Kitty enjoyed chasing each other and Makowca shot semi-playful fireballs after them. Riceball and Kisa kept a firm eye on them; Psyduck, a rather unfocused eye. Their birds flew around together and Anthony, Riley, and Cranidos playfully battled. Their trainers lay there relaxing.

"Flowers smell nice." Dale said sleepily.

"Yeah, who was that guy to tell us they were imperfect?" Justyna growled.

"I have a feeling we'll be seeing him again." Anna said aloud.

"Why's that?" Dawn asked.

"I read lots of fanfiction."

"We should give him a name then." Justyna decided.

"Like what?" Dawn asked.

"How about Frizzy?" Dale suggested.

They looked at him in question.

"He had weird hair…"

"I like it." Anna said after a while.

They decided to leave around noon, pocketing their pocket monsters. While they walked, Justyna suddenly noticed something in the meadow. She gasped and pointed out there.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"That depends, what do you think it is?" Dale asked, looking but not seeing.

"Ralts?" Justyna pointed vigorously.

"Then yes." Dawn answered.

The ralts had looked up at the commotion. There were two of them. Justyna immediately whisked two pokeballs out of her bag and ran out there with Riley. The others stood by.

"Should we help?" Dale asked.

"No; give it a minute or two." Dawn said.

It took two. One for one ralts, forty-five seconds for the second, and fifteen seconds to run back.

"We're in luck! One's a boy and one's a girl!" she said proudly.

"How do you know-?"

"Quiet Dale." Justyna cut him off, "One can be a gardevoir and one a gallade! I've always wanted one of those! I'm keeping him."

She hesitated in pocketing a pokeball and putting one on her belt with her other pokemon.

"I forgot which is which. We'll check at the Pokemon Center."

Hearthome greeted them with a warm brown and light pink décor. They strolled past a large fountain and many shops. They made note of the pokemon gym. The pokemon center was along the way and they stopped in. The Nurse Joy restored their pokemon and Justyna checked both Ralts and kept the boy, sending the other back.

Then, when they were about to leave for a diner and lunch, the Nurse Joy announced that someone was on the phone.

"For a Nentoudoi Anna? Anna Nentoudoi." She called.

"Nentoudoi? I didn't know that was your last name." Dawn said.

"Yeah, seems obscure eh? Mine is Keikoon." Justyna rolled her eyes and shrugged.

"My last name is Kanimomo." Dawn said a bit to herself.

"Now that's weird." Dale commented.

Anna took the phone and gasped when she heard the voice on the other end.

"Piotr?" she asked in astonishment.

When her friends behind her whispered eagerly who it was, she quickly whispered back, "My brother."

"So that's his name." Justyna said. Another mystery solved. Now it was just too bad it wasn't a video phone.

"Everything's jokes." Anna responded on the phone, "How'd you know to call here?"

"I know where you are at all times." Her brother replied on the other end, "Mom knows and I ask her."

Anna laughed, "Moms…"

"I want you to have something. You wanted one when you were a kid, and there are none in Sinnoh."

"Yeah?"

"I'm in Kanto right now with Jeannie, and I got one from a good friend of mine. I'm sending it right over. Good luck." He hung up. Anna stood still, not putting the phone back until the Nurse Joy called her again. She snapped out of her trance, hung up and walked with her friends to the counter. The Nurse Joy handed her a pokeball and said it was from her brother. Kisa cooed at the new friend.

"What is it?" Justyna asked, "Is it filled with confetti?"

Anna ignored her and released the pokemon inside. A red little charmander jumped out and wagged his tail, looking up at her. She smiled and proclaimed him Piotr.


	24. Purple Power Training

Justyna rushed out of the Pokemon Center, Riley clinging to her head, while the three, Paul and Kisa played with Piotr. Anna was a bit disappointed but didn't think much of it for too long; Justyna did tons of crazy shit. They all exited the Pokemon Center and looked around town. Piotr rode excitedly on Kisa's back. They passed a church, which made Dawn rant and made Dale and Anna confused.

"Hey, if God were a pokemon what pokemon he be?" Dale asked.

"A wigglytuff." Anna and Dawn both answered at once.

They decided to head back. They turned around and bumped into Justyna. They let out muted screams.

"Your hair is gone." Dawn said. Well, it was cut. I mean, compared to before there was a lot missing.

"Piotr inspired me to cut it!" Justyna said, petting her short hair, "I like it."

Anna couldn't help but feel that there was some subliminal messaging going on.

"Plus I got this hat!" Justyna said, putting on a white one with green stripes.

Anna recognized several sublime messages. She took her palm to her face.

While walking back, Dawn noticed Paul stopping and turning his attention to a house they had passed. She walked in there.

"Well that was unusually rude of you." Anna noted, "You don't just walk into people's houses!"

"Sure you do." Dale responded, following Dawn, "Otherwise we'd be lost and deprived."

Inside was very much cluttered. Papers and file cabinets made almost a maze out of the room. A girl appeared from behind a stack of at least three thousand sheets of paper.

"Sorry for the mess. I get bored and doodle a lot." The girl smiled, "You guys trainers?"

They nodded.

"You know the system that you send your pokemon to after you catch them? I made that."

They nodded and looked around lazily, not really listening. The girl shifted her eyes awkwardly. It was quiet except for the air-conditioning. She forced small talk. "You guys want an eevee?"

Dawn left the house with a small but hopeful eevee named Obama. Paul gave him a future-respectful nod. Dale gave Anna a different nod, which she totally understood. _Lost and deprived._

Walking through the town they found a familiar building meaning a gym. Which they had noted. The doors appeared to be locked so they moved on. They circled the town and found something else familiar.

"A pokemon contest?" Dale read the poster, "I've never been in one of those." He took out a pokeball and looked hopefully at it.

After much convincing, Dawn agreed to enter alongside Dale; it'd be lonely by himself. They entered the humongous contest hall building and signed up for the advertised contest. The receptionist explained that it was called the Annual Cotillion and would be hosted two days from now. Dale nervously convinced everyone that they needed to train their pokemon. Anna and Justyna had no reason to join until they eyed a tall lady with huge purple hair and a matching ball gown across the room.

"That's the gym leader, Fantina." The receptionist helped them out, "She loves purple."

"She is pretty purple…" Anna said, glancing at Justyna. She nodded in return.

"We gotta get our pokemon more purple…"

They had dinner as it was nearing six o'clock and Justyna was health conscience. Early dinner gives you energy to do fun stuff at night which as teenagers they would graciously take advantage of. They got out of town and back to the field where Justyna attacked the ralts. They released Kitty, Anthony and of course Obama. Dawn was nearing a team. All of Justyna and Anna's pokemon exited too. Dale released his Breloom and Mismagius, who was to get the majority of the training. She was a really beautiful pokemon and was sure to do well in a contest. Although she found it hard to concentrate with Paul floating around, surveying the area sexily.

Monty practiced speed by swooping down and pecking sharply at Riceball who blocked with her large prinplup flippers. Monty muahahahaed. Staravia joined him at his request. Kitty mostly just chased Light, Luxio and Riley in circles but Justyna justified it as endurance training.

"I can't run around that many times." She said.

Anthony and Psyduck battled a while until Psyduck fainted from the mental paradox of battling a land shark. I guess you could say that he hit ROCK bottom.

Kisa and a fiery Makowca had at it and Obama and Mismagius had a contest specific training session. Beauty takes extra pain.

Anna decided to train Piotr against Cranidos, who seemed to be happy to battle of her own will. She charged at Piotr with a Headbutt. Anna commanded Piotr to jump and dodge and then use Ember. He jumped and he dodged but he did not shoot embers. He landed and was hit by Cranidos circling back. Anna tried the routine again and this time Piotr just stood there. Cranidos halted from her Headbutt and stared at him in confusion. Piotr looked at Anna with wide eyes and then ran off to join the never-ending circle of Kitty. And all this time, Breloom snoozed.

Anna focused on training Cranidos, Kisa, and Luxio in Piotr's place. Evening came and they returned to Hearthome to find a hotel. They had some hot chocolate before falling quickly asleep in their fluffy beds. Except Anna. She glanced over at her pokemon sleeping peacefully by her bedside. She looked at Piotr, curled up on Kisa's back. She forced the worrying thought from her mind. She eventually was able to put herself to sleep. She only slept four hours but it was enough to keep her monotone self up and running. Too much sleep might result in Justynaish behaviour.

They had blueberry pancakes and fruit for breakfast at the hotel and went out to the field to train again.

Dawn and Dale took their pokemon to another side of the field today and focused on practicing their pokemon's performances and ddr skillz. Anna and Justyna prepared for a gym battle.

Anna first sent out her Psyduck. Justyna sent out Makowca. After doing nothing, Makowca lay on the ground soaked and pissed. Kisa would cheer but it would be offensive. Anna, confused, asked Justyna why.

"No offense dude, but Psyduck sucks. You got to get him to evolve."

Suddenly, Psyduck started to glow in a pale white light. He grew taller and less chubby and became a golduck.

"I'm psychic!" Justyna exclaimed, "Man, I can make money off of this…"

Anna, very much excited, hugged Golduck tightly. Golduck looked around in disbelief and exclaimed in golduck and tears, "I CAN THINK CLEARLY!"

Justyna sent out Monty against Staravia. They took to the skies and collided several times, showing their speed and strength. Monty swooped under Staravia after the last collide and used Assurance, striking hard in Staravia's belly. Staravia retreated but after receiving a new order, spun up a Wing Attack, which Monty copied, so it got really windy. Justyna's new stripy hat blew away and Riley had to go get it. When the two stopped, Monty landed in a tree and eyed Staravia, awaiting her next move. She perched too and waited, eying him innocently. After a couple of minutes, Monty jumped off his perch and walked on the ground towards Staravia VERY pompously. Anna quickly commanded a Peck, which came full speed at Monty. He jumped out of the way at the last second, jumped in the air and Night Slashed Staravia.

Next; Riceball and Kisa. Kisa attacked heavily with Mega Drain while Riceball tried to evade. It didn't work well. Justyna desperately ordered a Bubblebeam, which luckily, distracted Kisa from the side so that Riceball could ram into her. Kisa fell on her back and glared at Riceball who playfully fell on her back and stood up while Kisa just lay there while Anna turned her over. Kisa leaped after Riceball as soon as she was on her feet again and they chased each other away.

Anna sent out Luxio and Justyna sent out Light. Since they were both electric types, the battle was more of a speed match. Light quickly struck and swiped Luxio behind the ear. They circled and Luxio tricked his way around Light and knocked him over. They circled; Light leaped to Bite Luxio but he shot up his paw in a reflexive defense. Light fell back and in his distraction. Luxio quickly leaped on top of him and held up his paw, ready to strike. Anna and Justyna allowed them to relax in the field; real battles are done before anyone can get hurt. (Critically) It was cool between them.

Justyna called Riley to the field against Cranidos. Cranidos quickly charged at Riley who was able to easily dodge her. For a while it was just that, charging and dodging. Then when Riley dodged one time, Cranidos turned sharply and Headbutted him in the stomach. He spun through the air and landed on his feet, though he fell over a second later. Cranidos began to charge at him again, lowering her head for a Rock Smash. Riley looked up in time and used Force Palm in her face. (Literally)

Riley flew back again. He landed on his bum and sat up, clenching his teeth. Cranidos hadn't moved from her spot yet. When the kicked up debris cleared, she fell over from cranial trauma.

Anna sent out her Piotr and was slightly relieved when Justyna sent out her new ralts. She quickly commanded him by the name Silver, to use Confusion. Anna shouted for Piotr to dodge it but all he did was turn in a quick circle. The Confusion wave made him fall over. Anna thought he might be confused when he didn't get up at her command but when Silver used another Confusion, Piotr quickly got up and ran out of the way. Anna quickly told him to use Ember; Silver was only three yards away. Piotr turned around and used Ember. On Anna.

She leaped out of the way just in time and tried to keep her voice steady when Justyna asked her what the fudge that was.

"He doesn't listen to me! I get my favourite pokemon and he doesn't listen to me!" she cried. Justyna made her some tea while their pokemon wandered away from the unsatisfied battle.

They had lunch and trained more. Piotr was out but not in battle. He wandered after several wild female pokemon and came to watch some battles between his owner and her friend. He especially liked the battles involving Cranidos; he blew his nose in Riley's general direction.

When it came time for dinner, they met up with Dawn and Dale. Their training must have gone well because Paul was letting Mismagius float by his side. They got back to their hotel in Hearthome and took very refreshing showers.

They had planned earlier in the day to visit Amity Park that evening. Riley rode on Justyna's head, Paul floated next to Dawn and Obama walked right below him. Dale's Mismagius happily drifted after her trainer while he recited some poetry. Anna let out Piotr and walked with him. He seemed to happily walk with her but when she ordered him to burn a bunch of flowers, he looked at her, then at the flowers, and then he walked ahead to look at some other flowers. She absentmindedly collected dropped accessories like Dawn and Dale had asked her during the rest of the walk.

She went to bed hugging her toy Pikachu, which she had remembered she had brought just for this exact reason.


	25. In Which Anna Discovers Her Inner Women

The arrival of dawn woke Anna.

"Wake up." She shook Anna, "You have a gym battle today." Paul nodded seriously.

It was noon. Justyna had been up for hours with Dale and out in Amity Park. Anna got dressed, stuffed herself with some sandwiches and Dawn dragged her outside.

"What's wrong with you? Have some energy!" Dawn stopped herself too late, "I sound like Justyna…"

"What about you?" Anna asked in return.

"The Pokemon Contest is tonight. Your gym battle is in about an hour."

They met up with Dale and Justyna at the Pokemon Center, quickly refreshed their pokemon, and went to the Hearthome Gym.

It was a rather tall gym and seemed greyer than the others they had seen. Inside it was worse; dark. Anna was about to release Luxio when suddenly, Dale started shining.

"Ahhh! What's happening?" Dale whined.

Nothing bad seemed to be. They shrugged and made use of him. He was very bright and illuminated two yards in front of them. They found three doors and by luck made it to the next room. In the next room, they found more doors; lots more. They stood in the center of the empty dark room, spinning Dale and trying to decide which door to take.

"AHH!" Dale exclaimed, pointing random in the dark and turning to a door, "I saw someone lurking over there!"

"It was pitch black over there! There's no way you saw a lurker." Dawn defied.

"I swear! He was glowing!" Dale argued.

"Then that's the door we take!" Justyna reasoned.

The door was correct and in the next room, Dawn reluctantly scanned for any glowing lurkers. This room had only one door, which they easily took, though as they left, Dale swore he saw more lurkers and at least two sneaks.

The last room was painfully bright. Adjusted, they saw a long staircase. Following it upwards, they got to a large platform at least two stories off the ground. On the other side, there was a large stained glass mirror of a purple mountain looking down at them. And below it on a slight podium was Fantina, in the same purple dress as she had on yesterday.

"Weelcome!" She shouted, "Let us get ra-ight don tu dze buseeness! Battons-nous!"

"Ouais!" Justyna exclaimed, jumping into the ring.

Anna stepped in, calming herself by simply deciding to use her other awesome pokemon. Dale and Dawn sat down in the little bleachers set up on the side and Paul and Mismagius floated by them. Kisa and Riley also watched from side and head respectively.

Fatima sent out a large squeaking driftblim, which made everyone shudder. Excluding Dale. She also released a banette who grinned evilly. Justyna sent out Light and Anna Luxio. The driftblim floated upwards and left banette to battle. Light used Thunderbolt, but it missed. The bolt destroyed a nearby pillar. Fantina shouted angrily.

"Tu want dzees plahce tu cave een?" she scolded.

"Tell your banette to stop dodging then!"

Luxio jumped at banette who allowed him to pass through it. Luxio used Spark from behind to its surprise. The banette whipped around to attack Luxio and Light used another Thunderbolt that didn't miss. The banette swiftly avoided Luxio's Thunder Fang and floated up to the ceiling to talk Driftblim down. The banette returned by itself, passing through Light and Luxio. They turned to face it and Driftblim swooped down and grabbed them from behind. He used Ominous Wind and sent them flying towards Banette. It readied a Shadow Ball as Light landed on his feet and dashed towards Banette with a Spark. He jumped in its face, dissipated the Shadow Ball and knocked Banette to the ground.

Luxio and Light turned around to the Driftblim who looked nervously shifty. They jumped him and killed him to unconsciousness in under a minute. Fan-oh screw it. Her name is Fatima from now on -_- She recalled them and Anna and Justyna their pokemon.

Fatima smoothed her purple dress, which ruffled in deprecation. She threw out two pokeballs, which released a mismagius and a duskull. Justyna sent out Monty and Anna, to level with the duskull, sent out Cranidos. Monty swooped upwards and then dived towards the mismagius while Cranidos charged at the duskull. She leaped and went right through it, the duskull laughed and used Shadow Ball on Cranidos, who had just turned around.

Suddenly, the familiar pssssooo sound of a pokeball was heard and next to Cranidos was Piotr, fussing over her face scorched by the Shadow Ball. Fatima didn't attack but impatiently called to Anna, "Arr you sweeching out dze pokimon?"

"No!" Anna cried, she hissed at Piotr to return but instead Cranidos did. Anna stood, jaw dropped, knowing that someone had to be screwing with her. High above the clouds, God shrugged.

The duskull shrugged and shot another Shadow Ball at the out of focus Piotr. Piotr fell over with a squeak but didn't attack back.

"Use Ember Piotr!" Anna called to him in her monotone voice.

Piotr looked at her with a frightened expression and was almost hit with another ball of dark shit; Monty swooped down and knocked him out of the way. He squawked at him angrily before being pushed by Fatima's mismagius. Piotr jumped out of the way of yet another Shadow Ball and looked to Anna for help.

"Come on Anna!" Justyna called, "I can't cover for you, Monty has to kill that Mismadge thing!"

The little charmander was sent flying out of nowhere. Cranidos and Kisa gasped from Anna's side. Piotr sat up but didn't have an intention of standing or fighting. Now, Anna was not taking anymore of his shit.

The master glared at Piotr, with such vexation that Satan quivered and God said "Damn…" and Jesus shouted, "Christ!" Piotr stood up quickly and even the duskull stopped when it caught her really angry eyes.

"Use Ember on that duskull NOW!" Anna shouted in a voice not monotone at all. 0:

Piotr jumped around and spewed fire all over the duskull. It kept at it until the duskull tumbled out of the flames and crawled back to Fatima. The gym was silent. Dawn and Dale were frozen mid-clap. Justyna looked at Anna as if she had just ordered two men to do unspeakable things. Anna was still angrily staring, at the floor. Fatima was dumfounded and Monty and the mismagius had stopped battling and were staring at Anna…

Who was the first to break out of the trance.

"What's everyone looking at?" she said, her voice still strong and not monotone. She looked at them both and shouted, "What are you staring at?" Monty cawed and punched out his opponent.

The silence was broken by a large crowd of people who came up the stairs.

"It's the lurkers and those two sneaks!" Dale shouted, pointing at them.

"Hooray! You guys won! Sukoi!"

Justyna was still staring at Anna in disbelief as the people gathered around them.

"We're the Pokemon Fan Club, we love your work!" They pointed at Piotr, "Amazing!" Anna thanked them, still barely believing herself, and said that they'd stop by their Clubhouse later. The people left.

Dale and Dawn made their way to Anna.

"You okay?" Dale asked.

"Yeah, I feel good." Anna said, a bit surprised at that. She called Piotr over and he immediately came and returned to his pokeball.

"I think I've got this mystery just about wrapped up." Dawn said, rubbing her chin, "Piotr is a traded pokemon right? Or at least all the way from Kanto right? Those kinds of pokemon don't listen to new owners very well."

"I guess." Anna said, understanding until another fact tried to foil her reasoning, "Justyna has traded pokemon, but they've always listened to her completely!"

"She is that kind of person…" Dale said, "The kind you don't mess with."

"And you aren't. Well, weren't." Dawn said, smiling, "You're now assertive Anna."

"Awesome! Do I get a medal?" Anna asked, her voice monotone again.

In a cliché sort of thing, Fatima appeared and presented Anna with a Relic Badge.

"Congahtulahtions, Anna." She clapped her hands in a ladylike manner, "Dzat ees un strong leetle charmandeer you 'ave." Anna nodded in sincere thanks. "Now, eez you f'iend alright?"

Anna noticed Justyna was still staring at her with the same expression as five minutes ago. Riley was on her head, poking her face in worry; Monty was on her shoulder, Pecking her head in amusement. She abruptly snapped out of it, scaring her murkrow, shouting, "Chris! Brad! And Piotr! Fire! Hellfire…." She pointed respectably upwards and then at Anna, waved her hands in a swirly fashion and lowered her hands, mumbling.

"Yep." Anna nodded.

"Okay, let's get something to eat." Dawn said, pushing Justyna, Dale, and Anna down the stairs.


	26. Perish the Thought!

After Lunch, like Anna promised, they went to the Pokemon Fan Club in Town. They were greeted by streamers and noisemakers. Although it was a Pokemon Fan Club, there was a considerable lack of pokemon present.

"You're extraordinary!" the President announced. Everyone cheered. "On behalf of all of us, please accept this box!"

It was a Poffin Case. Everyone cheered some more.

After they managed to get out of there, Dawn and her fancy manual pointed them to the Poffin House. A kind cooking lady there informed them on all sorts of poffin shenanigans and gave them their own cooking station. The giant cooking pot was already filled with some sort of dough, which smelled very good.

"Like chocolate chip less cookies…" Anna sighed, smelling it.

"You mean sugar cookies?" Dale inquired and received a look that made Satan fear it was happening again.

They needed a whole mess of berries to make poffins; they had a pigsty. Anna, Dawn, and Justyna thanked the good townsfolk of Floaroma Town. They made poffins for three hours, experimenting. The stirring was very addictive but it hurt their hands. But they couldn't stop.

They ran out of berries and managed to peel themselves away from the poffin pot. Coffin cot? Something along those lines. They walked back to their hotel to rest their arms. They painfully let their pokemon out and let them ransack their bags for the poffins. Dale let Mismagius eat the best ones to get her ready for the contest in, like, an hour.

"Dawn, which pokemon did you say you'd enter?" Anna asked.

"I didn't. But I guess I'll enter Kitty again." The skitty ran in gay circles.

"Awww. I thought you'd enter Paul." Dale said. The shuppet lifted his head: like, seriously?

The three girls had no idea why he thought that. Paul wasn't a contest pokemon. Or much of a battle pokemon. He was just there.

"I kinda want him to enter now." Justyna commented after ponderment. Anna agreed and Dawn forced some pink poffins in Paul's mouth.

They went to the Contest Hall and flashed their entry passes but were still prohibited inside.

"This is a Cotillion, mister and misses. You must have a fancy outfit." The receptionist told them.

The contest was starting soon so they dashed outside to find a fancy store or a Wal-Mart. The town did actually have a store that sold only ball gowns and the girls hurried in to buy some. They loaned Dale some money so he could rent a tux next door. He picked one and paid the suspicious man behind the counter.

"Hey, you want to join the secret tuxedo club?" the man asked Dale after handing him his tuxedo.

"Uh, no." Dale said uneasily.

"You get free tuxedos man." The man insisted, "Just don't tell anyone they're free."

"I only really need one. For just tonight." Dale replied, backing out the door.

"Your loss man. Chicks dig guys with multiple tuxedos."

Dale met up with the girls at the contest hall. Anna had a nice black dress and Justyna a flowery white one. Kisa and Riley also looked pretty spiffy. Dawn's was black and very conservative. Paul had aquired a bowtie. They were accepted into the contest and placed last in line because of their tardiness due to lack of fancy. Anna and Justyna found their seats just as the curtain rose.

Fatima was on stage as the announcer. She didn't need a microphone.

"Ladeez et monsieurz! Weelcome tu dze Annuahl Coe-teellion!" Everyone roared with cheer, "Dse Jugees weell be moi, dzees man, and dze Nurse Joy! Applaudez-nous!" Everyone did as commanded.

"Dzeez conteest 'as three pars!" she shouted, "Premierere! Dzee Show Offeeng!"

The crowd cheered as the eight contestants and their pokemon came on stage and accepted the applause. Fatima took a seat next to the other two judges and started Dze Cotillion.

The first four contestants and their pokemon amazed the crowd and received praise from the judges. Dale suddenly felt extremely nervous. He was last to perform and knew he had to make a great impression. Mismagius tried to reassure him.

The next two contestants dominated. Dawn was next. Paul floated out into center stage. He used Shadow Sneak and disappeared completely from view. He unknowingly crept closer to the audience and used Night Shade. A blown up translucent version of himself appeared before the people and freaked them out. He flew out of the stage and twirled upwards through his own illusion, while leaving several small Shadow Balls floating behind him. He flew to the top of his illusion and took the time to make a larger Shadow Ball. He projected it through the other smaller ones causing a series of shiny explosions that dissolved the large Night Shade Shuppet completely.

The audience cheered with the adrenaline of fear. Rah. Paul and Dawn bowed and made way for Dale and his Mismagius.

Mismagius twirled and released several waves of Magical Leaves. The auditorium was soon filled with them. Mismagius halted before the crowd and started to sing. It was a high pitched, wordless song, like an opera and so melodic it felt like a lullaby for a baby in a crib. The leaves that were moving in rapid spins slowed down and floated like feathers. Mismagius guided them with her voice. They floated in circles around her and upwards. They separated into two ribbons and twisted around each other and into the crowd. They spread out evenly in the air and gently rotated and glided in symphony to Mismagius' song. The audience was captivated. Mismagius ended her song on a sharp drastic note; the leaf disintegrated. The audience was filled with a wistful sense of wonder. They applauded lightly as Dale stepped back, still in awe.

When the awe wore off and everyone was done applauding, Fatima stood up and proclaimed, "Roond Deux! Dze Dahnceeng!"

The lights turned off and were replaced by UV ones. Everyone wore dark colours for that reason. Justyna in her blindingly white dress felt like Edward Cullen, except less rainbowy and more sparkly.

The eight contestants' pokemon paired off and danced to Help Me Erin, performing various spontaneous and explosive dance combinations. The crowd excitedly chanted the lyrics to the song and jumped in union to the last beat. The applause was deafening.

"Ze last part La Finale! DZE BATTAEENG!" Fatima shouted. The crowd roared.

They were again paired off, in order of performance, meaning the last two, Dawn and Dale, were a pair. They anxiously waited for their turn, watching the other contestants' pokemon colliding and flying off stage. And then, it was time.

Dawn and Dale stepped on either side of the stage. Mismagius and Paul floated out to the center and hung there. Suddenly, Paul disappeared in a Shadow Sneak. Mismagius floated high up to get out of the way. Paul reappeared and floated at her full speed. She dodged and sent a shower of Magical Leaves at him. When they cleared, Paul looked up to see her collide into him. He fell to the ground, dazed. He quickly floated up and used Curse. His eyes glowed red and his body deep purple. Mismagius floated weakly in place but made an effort to stay alert. Paul threw a Shadow Ball at her. She quickly used Psybeam to destroy it. Paul flew through the beam's blinding light and hit her with a Night Shade.

"PWNED!" Anna and Justyna shouted from the audience.

Mismagius was thrown to the floor and Dale ran out to the field to pick her up. Dze Battling came to a close.

Fatima declared, "PAR FOOR! ZE JOOGING!"

"But you said-"

"Ferme la bouche, you Nuh-s Joie! Non un likes you!" Fatima silenced her.

The contestants were ordered backstage during the judging. Dale gave Mismagius a Full Restore to get rid of Paul's Curse.

"Sorry Dale. It's a contest." Paul nodded.

"It's okay Dawn. I never thought I could win anyways." Dale sighed.

They were called back on stage for the announcement of the winner. While they were walking, Dawn got Dale's hopes up.

"You could still win. Mismagius' song was beautiful! I didn't know they could sing like that." She gave him a pat on the back. "They can't. That was the move Perish Song."

Right on cue, all the pokemon dropped. Paul literally fell out the air. Only Mismagius stayed up, grinning nervously. The judges overlooked the stage and shrugged.

"The winner is Dale and Mismagius!"

The crowd hesitated and then exploded in fangirly goodness. Balloons came down from the ceiling and covered Dale in streamers. The fangirls in the first row jumped on stage and crowded around Dale as Fatima presented him with his prize; tons of money. They then glomped him.

"DALE! U ROK!" One shrieked and then they all screamed excitedly. Two of the girls were on his arms and the others followed.

"Ladies, calm down. Let me get my neckerchief." The now suave Dale said. The fangirls squealed and followed him off stage and outside. The rest of the audience followed in a parade-like manner. The auditorium was empty except for the other contestants who were tending to their pokemon and angrily leaving. And of course Anna, Justyna, and Dawn who was still staring where Dale was rewarded lots of money and carried off by fangirls. Anna glanced at Paul who was still lying there and Justyna put her arm around Dawn and assured her, "Don't be gloomy Dawnie. Having girls swoon over you isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Dawn turned to her, shocked.

"Don't call me Dawnie." =/

They went back to their hotel and quickly realized that Dale's room was filled with fangirls and delicious food. They joined the party for the food.

They got all the fangirls to go home at about four in the morning and were able to get sleep. In the afternoon when they woke up and ate a meal between late breakfast and lunch, Dale informed them that he would be staying in Hearthome with his fangirls. Sad as it was, they admired his dedication.

Justyna paid their hotel due. They had a hug-filled goodbye with Dale and they walked to the edge of town, where they left him and his fangirls, behind.


	27. Happy Dance

It seemed that music was playing. Justyna skipped and called back to them in almost a musical voice for them to hurry up while she rushed forward. Riley and Light were happily keeping up and seemed to be dancing.

Kisa was walking slowly and peacefully like her owner, who in this situation was sitting on the strong grotle's back. Dawn strolled beside them with Paul floating and subtly bobbing his head to the music. It was there, just very subliminal.

This route was very hilly and rivery; they crossed several arced bridges. Great architecture. They met a jogger on one bridge and promptly defeated him in a pokemon battle, took his money and threw him off the bridge. Riley and Light cheered. Anna let out her Luxio who she dubbed was in need of some senseless running around. Dawn smiled, amused, and let out Obama and Kitty.

The five pokemon ran ahead and in circles and ovals and squares; unknowingly to Anna and Dawn, they danced to the musical beat.

The day was long and sunny and the route was fun of pokemon and trainers; lack of occupation was not an issue. The cheerful day seemed to play the music even louder until Dawn started hearing it.

"What _is _that?" she mused, slightly annoyed at the unusual sounds. She turned to Anna who had already heard the music and she and Kisa had skipped ahead to join Justyna and the dancing band. She shrugged and she and Paul danced too; meaning they walked faster and moved their heads to the beat.

Along came a boy. He was slightly fat, with glasses, greasy hair and a glazed look in his eyes. They assumed he was a video gamer and posed no threat to them. They were correct to assume the first part but as for the latter, they were donkeys.

"Trainers?" He mused the question as the dancing pokemon hesitated before him.

"Yeah!" Justyna shouted overenthusiastically. The boy stepped back, put off by the intense wave of bliss.

"Yes, we are." Anna kept her dancing self under control, "You?"

"Why yes I am." A satisfied smile crept across his face. He reached into his pocket and quickly whipped out two pokeballs. He threw them so hard they actually hit and bounced off Kisa's face. They released a houndoom and a ground shaking snorlax.

"Lax….." It groaned like a zombie cried for brains.

Without a second warning, the trainer ordered the two to attack, "Kill them!" We don't think he was being literal.

The Houndoom scorched the band of dancing pokemon. Riley and Kitty retreated whimpering; Light and Luxio withstood the pain of the burns and braced themselves to attack back. The snorlax groaned and let itself fall on top of them.

"Hey man!" Justyna protested, "You could actually hurt them!"

The snorlax lazily lifted itself off of the pokemon, brushing the dirt off its belly. Anna and Justyna quickly recalled their pokemon. Then Justyna growled some gibberish and threw out her own ball. Riceball leaped out and immediately blew out a shower of bubbles. The snorlax shielded the houndoom from the worst of it and used Hyper Beam. It caught Riceball off guard, but the prinplup put up an impressive defense and could still stand after the direct hit.

"Yeah!" Justyna cheered nervously as Riceball wavered, shifting her eyes toward Anna.

Kisa ran into battle before Anna even had a chance to leap off her back. Justyna caught her, don't worry.

Kisa stopped in front of Riceball and used Cut, slicing the snorlax's belly. It groaned but didn't show signs of intense pain. It raised its arm, which started to glow. It used Focus Punch. Kisa quickly tackled Riceball and herself out of the way. Snorlax was recovering but houndoom readily attacked the turtle and the penguin. Riceball, with a determined eye, raised her head and used Brine; water sprinkled violently out of the ground around houndoom. The houndoom closed its eyes and violently tried to shake the stinging water off itself. When it opened its eyes, Kisa rammed into it and sent it twirling through the air to the feet of its trainer.

Snorlax groaned with remorse for the houndoom and turned to Riceball and Kisa with an even louder and infuriated groan. It ran toward them on its tiny blob legs. Riceball wobbled out of the way just in time.

The immense creature reoriented itself and charged at Riceball again. It stopped and turned around when it felt a sharp lashing pain on its back. Kisa scourged it with Razor Leaves. The beast moaned and stumbled backwards. Riceball spewed Bubblebeam at its back wounds, filling them with soapy water. It roared like mad.

The route was very hilly and rivery. The snorlax angrily stumbled towards a river. It snapped out of its fury for a second and turned back to face its opponents. Snorlax whitened to the point of 'HOSHIT,' but managed to get its footing. Then Kisa used Earthquake and sent him over the edge.

Anna and Justyna shouted KABOOM on the final glorious note of the song.

Snorlax fell into the river, unconscious and started to float with the current south. Its trainer stood, not even wide-eyed, just blank. Justyna and Anna stood with their arms crossed, awaiting some sort of explanation or form of pay. The guy suddenly jerked and ran past them to the river. He jumped on his Snorlax and floated with him down the stream.

"Hey! Arako?" Justyna shouted from the riverbank.

The boy just stared blankly at them as he sailed. He eventually called, "I am Michael." Then he muahahahahaed, turned and disappeared.

"Well that was idiosyncratic." Anna said in her monotone voice.

"Whoa, what happened here?" Dawn had just arrived at the scene and she was gazing with surprise at an Empoleon and a Torterra who were proudly admiring themselves and each other.

"We missed our first pokemon's evolutions?" Justyna despaired, "God hates us!"

Anna explained to Dawn that they had fought a psycho.

"Great, slow down will you?" Dawn demanded, "Paul, Obama and I are just walking while you and Justyna are skipping like antelopes. We nearly lost you." Paul nodded solemnly.

Anna doubted that she and Justyna could slow down with the upbeat music playing. But that problem had just been conveniently resolved. Kisa was now humongous. Dawn and Paul rested under the large tree on Kisa's back and Anna still had room to comfortably dance.

With Light and Luxio incapacitated, Riley, Obama, Kitty, and Justyna were all that was left of the dancing band. The day seemed to pass much more quickly now, the music was very upbeat and fast and it kept Kisa at a constant skip. Shakey.

Eventually the music got loud enough so they could hear the words. They all were sucked into the song and sang it aloud, even as innocent bystanders looked upon them with worry and confusion.

_Have you ever seen a more happier tree?_

_Have you ever seen a happier than me bird?_

_To be together always_

_Walking, strolling, etre_

_Walking and singing, singing buoyant happy amsood!_

_Walking and singing, singing buoyant happy amsood!_

_Walking and singing, singing buoyant happy amsood!_

_Have you ever seen a happier tree?_

_Buoyant Amsood!_

_Have you ever seen a more glorious day?_

_Buoyant Amsood!_

_Have you ever been'n such gaiety?_

_Buoyant Amsood!_

_Have you ever seen a ghostie smile so,_

_Buoyant Amsood!_

_Have you ever seen such blissful creat's?_

_Buoyant Amsood!_

_Have you ever been so unsaddish?_

_Buoyant Amsood!_

_Has bad langue ever been so specific? Buoyant Amsood!_

_Aie,_

_Walking, singing, happy singing,_

_Buoyant Amsood!_


	28. Lost

The annoying music seemed to fade as they approached a tall, solemn tower that stood, protected by a stoned wall. Dawn eagerly suggested they explore it but they desperately wanted to get to the next town: make some progress.

Solaceon Town was small and farm-like, with lots of random cowfolk wandering about. The first person they met, however, was not a cowpoke. At the gates of the town, which was just a picket fence, was a tall boy with poofy hair.

"Welcome to Solaceon Town!" he said in a badly disguised happy voice; he had a sableye who waved its arms unenthusiastically.

"Can I interest you in some miltank milk? We steal it from up north." he said with a blank smile. Dawn immediately soured.

"No: I hate milk."

"Dawn, you're so…" Justyna ended her sentence with a disgruntled meow noise since there are no adjectives to describe everything Dawn is and isn't.

"Right. We'll be going." Dawn brushed past the boy with Anna and Justyna, who waved a small goodbye.

"Please buy some milk!" the boy pleaded in muted desperation.

They went to the Pokemon Centre to heal up real quick and then went to explore the town. It had its own newspaper; they walked into the small farmhouse, which was supposedly its headquarters. Inside were only two guys and not a printing press in sight. The manger man saw them and approached enthusiastically.

"How would you three like a job?" He said, quickly shaking their hands and getting to the point.

"Uh, we're pokemon trainers." Justyna said in a very as-a-matter-of-facty voice, "We make enough money."

"Well then it'll be very easy! You just bring me pokemon to observe and then I can write my newspaper." he said eagerly.

"Sounds kind of boring." Dawn pointed out. Paul nodded and looked around at the unimpressive room.

"Please." the man's voice suddenly got very desperate. "No one brings me any pokemon. My newspaper's dying!" he cried out the last words and fell to the floor. They promptly left.

"That could have been really awkward…" Anna said, motioning a turtle with her hands.

The rest of the town was just a bunch of houses whose inhabitants were cowboys and cowladies with an abundance of bidoofs. They had to leave, otherwise Justyna would have destroyed them out of her irrational hatred for the beaver-mouse things. The town was incredibly unremarkable. The only perk was a large farm that made up the west part of town: the Day Care Centre. The old people there seemed to be making enough money and calmly invited them into their house for some tea. Anna, Dawn, and Justyna let out their pokemon to entertain the ones at the Day Care. After a good two hours of tea, they decided to get out and squeeze some training into the remainder of the day. The old couple kindly asked if they wanted to leave any pokemon in their care.

"Good idea!" Justyna exclaimed. She released Silver; the little ralts looked nervously around at the full room.

"I caught him the other day and all he knows is Growl." Justyna scowled, "I'm sure he can learn a thing or two here." The oldsters smiled, picked him up and took him out to the farm. As Justyna, Dawn and Anna left with Paul, Riley and Obama remaining outside their pokeballs, Silver slithered along the fence of the farm, watching as they left.

Paul felt bad for the little pokemon; he was young and lonely and had already developed a bond with its trainer, which was now being severed. When ralts couldn't follow them any further and Justyna naively waved back as he whimpered from behind the fence, Paul felt his demeanor change drastically. The little ralts frowned and its aura burned like an angry women's: that's really, really mad. Paul shivered and Riley jumped; they fast walked after their trainers.

They trained for the rest of the day on the north side of town, which was a large, tall-grass field. It started to get dark and they were left with no choice but to return to Solaceon. They discovered that the town didn't have a hotel; they should have checked that first. And on top of that, it started to rain; so camping was out of the question. They took shelter under an awning hanging over the Pokemart because in such a small town, the Pokemon Centre closed at eight PM.

They were startled by the door opening; and emerged from it the poofy-haired boy who had greeted them when they first entered the unextraordinary town.

"Well, well, well," he laughed from under an umbrella, "What are you guys doing here?"

Dawn soured again: like a slab of meat. "We need a place to stay."

"Oh and I'm going to invite you in?" he said in a lightly amused voice.

"Yes." Anna said in her monotone voice. She drilled into him with her monotone eyes. Justyna tried but with no avail. Dawn was very successful in the art.

"Fine." the boy shouted, backing away from the girls.

They followed him home where he made them dinner and then gave up his bed and couch to them and slept on the floor.

"I'm Cody, by the way." he said as he fell asleep against a puffy sandslash that he owned. His sableye, masquerading in a black hat and dark cape, kept watch from his side.

Anna and Dawn murmured their acknowledgement and Justyna snored. In the morning, she had to be informed what his name was again.

Even though he had to slave to make them breakfast, Cody was shocked when they told him that they were leaving.

"Why?"

"There's nothing to do in this town." Dawn said, drinking some G2.

"Except for the Day Care Centre and these chadd waffles." Justyna stuffed herself with them because the narrator would make sure she didn't put on a single pound.

"What about the ruins?" Cody whined, "There's this old temple on the other side of town filled with unknown."

"Unknown?" Anna asked.

"They're basically just big eyes that have limbs that make them look like letters." Cody explained, "There's the whole alphabet! It's fun to try catch them all; though I've never done it." He made a sad Cody face.

"We should try and get them all!" Justyna exclaimed, "And we'll name them after the letters that they are, but in French!" Because everyone knows the alphabet is different in France.

After dragging them to the Pokemart, which Cody owned, to buy a bunch of pokeballs, Cody led the girls to the ruins. Their entrance was guarded by a large stone statue of a deer-like pokemon with tentacles.

"It's Arceus: the God of Pokemon. Which is complete bullshit, of course. It's just like the FSM!" Cody exclaimed.

"I'm starting to like him." Dawn whispered to Anna.

Not enough, however, to take him with them. The three insisted, for some absurd reason, that they were going into the caves alone.

"You don't know where you're going! You'll get completely lost!" Cody declared. The girls paid him no heed and vanished into the dark, but still light enough to see dark, cave.

At first they wandered the cave aimlessly: sticking close and having Makowca and Piotr lead the way with their brightly lit shoulders and tail. Then they suddenly noticed that there were millions of unknown in the cave: floating above their heads. They quickly caught one of each in one swarm and then had to move somewhere else. Catching them became exceedingly more difficult; they lost track of which letters they had already caught and the constantly moving and buzzing swarms of the creatures were enough to melt your brain.

They eventually decided to keep tabs; they stopped and, by their pokemon's light, tried to recall all the unknown they had already caught. They needed only seven more letters; if they had counted correctly which they hadn't. They searched desperately for the letters they needed among the shifting and buzzing cloud of unknown. It wasn't even buzzing: it was an annoying pixilated sound that rang like sharp bells in their ears.

"Found him!" Justyna exclaimed; she had spotted the elusive letter Q.

"I think that's an R." Dawn whined, tired from thought.

"No, it's a ku!" Justyna ran after the letter, which floated away from its group and down a stone flight of stairs. Makowca, and the main source of light, disappeared behind her. Anna and Dawn stumbled over tiny Piotr and down the stairs.

It seemed like those stairs were a giant hole. They fell down, down, down until they collapsed on the floor. Justyna was looking around in anguish. The unknown slipped out of the stone wall and laughed in its bell-pixel way. Makowca used Flamethrower in its direction but it had already disappeared. It appeared several times more, taunting Justyna until she fell to her knees, fraught; Makowca continued to attack the wall out of determination.

"I think we're lost." Anna said in a quiet voice too monotone even for her. Dawn was terrified. Paul was scared too. The ruins and the unknown power, coincidently I pun terms, weighed him down so that he was only hovering over the ground. He eventually drooped down and lay on Dawn's head.

"Light!" Justyna called out. It wasn't a jolteon; it was actual light. They must have been in there for hours because the single ray of light was like a match to drywood. A drop of dim, white light trickled in through the ceiling of the cave. It was a tremendously small opening; it was high above the floor but collapsed rocks enabled an easy climb. Dawn tried to get Paul to float up there but he refused and just lay there.

"I gots it!" Justyna said in a strained voice of excitement. She quickly released Riley and commanded the small, thin pokemon to climb. Dawn, inspired, let out Obama and ordered the sleek, young eevee to follow.

Justyna was about to remind them that they had to get help when Riley and Obama both started to glow white. The light was blinding in the dark cave, making the remarkable event just annoying. It faded and revealed, in the pale light coming from the outside, a confuzzled lucario and umbreon. Dawn and Anna were fraught with confusion as well.

"Don't umbreon evolve at night and lucario during the day?" Anna asked.

"Yeah," Dawn confirmed, "How the heck did that happen? And I didn't even have Obama for that long."

"They're too big to fit through!" Justyna cried, burying her face in her hands, "We're doomed!"

Their doom was averted: by someone who could have erased the situation completely. The small hole started to get larger as a sandslash clawed it apart. A sableye looked down from the hole and waved lightly, donning his hat and cloak. Cody stood next to them and gazed down as well.

"You guys look like you're in a jam." he laughed heartily.

They were all safely rescued and returned to Cody's house where he had the even harder task of making food for them and their exhausted pokemon.

"Did you catch all the unknown?" he had the nerve to ask.

Dawn soured: like something very unchadd.

Cody noticed their newly evolved pokemon.

"I thought umbreons were at night and lucario-?"

"We know." Dawn cut him off, "We have no idea what happened."

"Well, when I got up there, when you say your pokemon evolved, it was twilight: almost night and still kind of day." Cody pondered, "That must be what happened. That's pretty awesome; there must be only a handful of times out of a million that that happens. It must have looked awesome."

"I just wanted the light to get the hell away." Dawn whined and drowned herself in her dinner ,which secretly was milk-based. Rain started to pour outside and all but Kisa, Riceball, and the long-forgotten Golduck stayed inside and enjoyed the meal.

**DONE! I like Cody :D and I really wanted to evolve those two so I came up with this scenario. Once again if you don't enjoy it, it is two in the morning right now and I need to get the story moving until I get to the actual good stuff.**


	29. And Hilarity Ensues

**(http:/sutakaibagirl . deviant art .com/#/d2ubosf) EXTRA BONUS COMIC STORY FUNNY! Just remove the spaces there.**

"Let's go already! We've been here FOREVER!" Justyna cried out, appropriately.

"You've been here three days." Cody pointed out.

"Then there must be something wrong with your internal clock." Dawn groaned.

They had been stuck inside the whole last day due to rain and electrical weather. It was still raining now. And lord knows Dawn won't venture in wet conditions.

"You know what?" Justyna said aloud.

Anna and Dawn didn't ask. It was quiet for five minutes. Then Cody turned to ask her what. She had not answered because she was gone. After discovering that her stuff was gone and so was Light, who tended to be out as of late, Dawn used the scientific method to conclude that Justyna had gone outside. She wasn't in view of the window so they further concluded she had left town.

"Shouldn't you guys go too?" Cody inquired.

"No, she'll come back soon."

They decided to have a four-hour lunch with sandwiches and fruit galore. Kitty, Obama, V the Cody's Sabeleye, Cranidos and Piotr enjoyed it very much. When they were finished, Justyna had still not returned.

"Okay, maybe we should see what she's up too." Anna said.

Dawn snuffed in her dawnish way. It had not let up in amount of rain per second. That's when Anna remembered the umbrella she had not packed but magically was granted in Chapter 19.

And so they were off. They had convinced Cody to come with them because he could use the fresh air. Anna and Dawn rode on top of Kisa with the latter huddling under the purple umbrella and the former sitting under the somewhat-water-shielding tree on the torterra's back. Paul was fine, rain passed right through him. Cody had worn his best hoodie but it was already soaked and wearing him down. Noes!

"Omigod, Dawn!" Anna suddenly exclaimed. :o

"What?"

"Your hair…is redish." Anna noticed.

It indeed had mutated colours! What was before dirty blond was now dark brown with a tint of red. Why? Because the Kool-Aid Man is red.

They journeyed north, through the immense grassland. It seemed like FOREVER. Cody looked up when Anna scolded him for his crooked ways and he noticed a small building not far off. It was a café. Kisa was called back and they ventured inside. Someone knew how to market well because they were parched when they entered the place.

It was small, wooden, and very cozy inside. It smelled like warm milk. There were no free tables; unfortunately, they were all occupied by bikers and other suspicious folks. Dawn quickly flipped through her handy-dandy poke-manual and found a warning: this café was run by the poke-mafia.

"Ain't you gonna buy something?" called a friendly voice behind them just as they turned to leave. It was the female bartender.

"We were actually just go-"

"BUY SOME MILK."

She also convinced them to have a seat. All the tables were taken but she told them she knew where we could sit. She guided them to the center of the room where there was a table with one sitter.

"Hi guyz!" Justyna waved viciously. She then w00ted and the whole café responded with a roar. All the bikers and suspected mafia drank their milk heartily.

Everyone sat down uneasily to say the least. Cody buried himself in his milk. Not literally but he cradled the mug close to him and sat low in his chair, trying not to attract attention.

"Isn't this milk awesome?" Everyone looked at Justyna and said :C

"I hate milk!" Dawn growled.

"And in case you haven't noticed, this place is run by the mafia!" Anna hissed inconspicuously.

"You haven't tried it have you?" Justyna said as-a-matter-of-facty.

As the matter, she hadn't. Anna tried the warm milk and although the narrator believed she didn't like warm milk, this particular mug was delicious. She gasped.

"This is pretty jokes." She said pretty seriously, "It tastes familiar though…"

"It does? Let me check." Justyna chugged the whole thing of milk. She smacked her lips.

"It tastes like the milk Cody gave us the other day." She concluded.

"Noitdoesn't." Cody mumbled, still hiding.

"It does!" Anna agreed, "And the waffles you made had this same flavour. Did you use this milk in them?"

The café had gone noticeably quiet. The gang looked around them and saw hard, emotionless faces concentrating on them. The customer bikers all stood up in unison and glared at them still. Out of the crowd came the female bartender, carrying a round, silver tray.

"Is'at true? You ain't that pesky milk-stealer we've been havin' issues with, are ya?" she asked sweetly.

Anna, Dawn, Jusytna, and Paul turned to glare at Cody too.

"No?" He said.

Then a man in the back of the café said "EVERYONE ATTACK" and it turned into a PokeBlitz. All the bikers grabbed their pokeballs and chucked them at the perpetrators, unleashing a flurry of psyducks. Anna and Dawn managed to fly out of the way and Justyna grabbed Cody and also fled. Anna called out Luxio, who immediately recognized the sticky situation and used a powerful Spark. Dawn and Paul Night Shaded their way through the crowd and managed to run out the door. Justyna and Cody took a wrong turn and ended up face-to-face with the bartender, who drew her silver tray and smacked them with it, yelling like crazy. The other bikers turned to attack so Justyna released Makowca. The quilava yelped at the sight of the bikers and their psyduck and was immediately discouraged.

"Come on, Makowca!" Justyna shouted, "Burn down the café!"

That wasn't a hot idea as this infuriated the mob even more and they attacked with all their psyduck and biker might. Makowca toughed it out and used Lava Plume, evaporating many of the attacks and backing off many of the bikers. They also, however, had surrounded themselves by the lava and were forced against a wall. Anna had been smart enough to leave while the bikers were distracted so no help there.

Cody decided to be proactive and sent out Poofy, the sandslash. He was quickly commanded to dig and did so, burrowing them a way out of the café.

Anna and Dawn were right outside and helped them out of the hole, which was becoming slippery thanks to the rain. Poofy and Makowca both snarled at the weather. Luxio and Light, (who was inexplicably out) shrugged. Well, that was over.

"Shuppshupp." Paul dreaded, pointing his drape body towards the café. They had burrowed out the front of the building. Where the door was. Therefore, all the mafia had to do was open it and there they were.

They all screamed and scrambled to get the hell out of there. The rain didn't let up, the mafia didn't let up, and the whole thing turned into a Benny Hill chase scene.

**I'M BACK! Groovey :D**


	30. Nothing Actually Happens

A lone soul was standing out in the rain: an archaeologist. He was doing nothing of great importance; unlike his brother in Romania. He waited awkwardly under a bridge built conveniently so that people could avoid him. It was also to shield himself from the rain. He stood there, accomplishing nothing, when he suddenly noticed our heroes. They were still running and still behind them, was the Mafia. The lone man poked his head out from under the bridge, finally about to do something. He was going to challenge them to a battle. :c

"Excuse me? Would you like to-" The three girls plus Cody pushed past him, ignoring the man completely. The mob followed, waving their guns and silver trays in the air. And the archeologist was left thinking that that was the most unCHADD thing ever.

They raced through that route like mofos. They hurried up hills. They pounced over puddles. They accelerated their alliteration.

They unfortunately had to be quite rude about it, as one can't always be polite when running from the Mafia. They pushed aside a karate kid who was standing awkwardly on a cliff. They tripped over a jogger and they bulldozed through two more karate guys. Neither the Mafia nor the rain would let up. This was their worst mix-up with the decepticons yet.

Like five minutes down the road, was a group of six, four girls and two boys, standing awkwardly on the path. They were all dressed the same red and green tight clothes. They all had green hair too, for some reason. Expect the leader of the group; her hair was blue and black and she wore those colours as well. They were so chadd.

And five minutes later came running our heroes. Still.

"Hey!" called their blue-haired leader in honest enthusiasm, "We challenge you four to a battle!"

Anna, Justyna, Dawn, and Cody rushed past them as they did with everyone before then. And this got the rushed-past angry. Or steamed, to be more appropriate.

"How dare they just run past us!" shouted one of the trainers.

"Yeah!"

"Fear not, my people!" shouted their leader; "We shall have our pokemon battle soon!"

As they roared with adrenaline, the Mafia traveled down the path and so it was that the small group of six stood in the way of the mob of fifty bikers and a female bartender.

"Outta ma way!" yelled the bartender, ruffling her skirt, "Can't ya'll see we're ina hurry?"

"Not anymore you ain't!" shouted their blue-haired leader, mocking the southern-sounding Japanese woman. "You ain't leavin' until we get a battle!"

And with that, they whipped out their balls and prepared to face a wave of psyducks. Well, that was lucky.

Anna, Dawn, Justyna, and Cody kept pushing through the small rest house at the end of the route, not paying attention to the lack of noise behind them. They even missed the bright flash of light from their side as they stepped out of the dark rain and the dim rest house and into the bright morning sky of Veilstone City. They had to stop to take it all in.

"How long were we running through there?" Dawn gasped before collapsing. Emos are not made for running.

"I have no idea." Anna collapsed as well, along with Poofy and Makowca, who had been following them faithfully despite their despise of rain. Justyna and Cody returned their pokemon, and carried Anna and Dawn to the Pokemon Center. Luxio and Light followed them, almost forgotten in the consistency of the story. Paul kept looking behind them, hoping someone would remember to ask what the fuck happened to the mob.

The Nurse Joy was happy to help humans as well as their pokemon. As Anna and Dawn were recovering and Luxio and Paul were sittin' around with notin' to do, and Light was forgotten again, Justyna sent out Makowca to kept them a bit of company. She started blazing with energy, but this time, the flames emerged from her shoulders, and not her head and butt. She had evolved into a Typhlosion!

"Crack! I missed it again!" Justyna screamed and fell off the couch that she and Cody were occupying. Paul and Cody both shrugged.

Anna and Dawn came to around the evening time. Cody and Justyna had left, the bastards, so they called them and they came back in five minutes. Luxio and Paul seemed to have enjoyed their time away from their trainers. As much as they had to anyways.

"And by the way, I has gifts." Justyna squealed. Anna slapped her.

It was items. There was a department store in town and it sold everything. Everything. They had stocked up on potions and other stuff they never used, but they also bought HELD items. The store had several items such as a silk scarf which was nicely fit for Kitty who enjoyed it, a mystic water necklace for Riceball, spell tag for Paul, a black belt for Riley, a water incense for Golduck and a collar for Obama. Just a collar. The Dept. Store sold those too. It was so out of place in such a boutique. And yet, no one seemed to wonder why Cody did not feel uncomfortable in such a setting.

They hadn't eaten all day, well Dawn and Anna hadn't, so they magic'd up some hamburgers and set out to find a hotel. While walking through the rocky city, they suddenly remembered.

"What happened to the Mafia?" Justyna shouted in the middle of the semi-crowded street. Cody ducked down and hid behind them, attracting the peoples' attention.

"I think they would have found us by now if they were still following us." Dawn reasoned. That seemed like a valid conclusion. So they told Cody to scamper home.

" No!" he whined, "What if they're waiting on the route back? Their pysducks will slaughter me!"

Anna laughed. And then Jusytna got a brilliantly, strangely placed idea.

"We can fly you home!" she announced, " We've got Monty and Staravia!"

"I think you need a badge for that." Dawn said, Paul nodded.

And conveniently, that badge could be obtained in Veilstone City. They would have challenged the gym straight away, but lord knows that teenagers can't do anything at night. They rested at yet another luxury hotel, which Cody enjoyed.

"You have no idea how poor it is in Solaceon Town." he explained, "No one makes any money expect those stupid old people. They're like the rich bourgeoisie looking down on all the peasants."

"Is that why you resorted to stealing milk?" Dawn asked, not impressed.

"Yes." Cody squeaked. His sableye was sitting next to him while he gave his exposition. He blinked and no one noticed. No one at all.

It was the next morning, and by god, they were going to learn to fly and get Cody to home. They purposely marched down the street towards the gym when they noticed-

"Geez, that's one spiky building." Anna commented.

The darkness of the previous night had obscured the rather obvious corporate building that overlooked the city. It reminded the girls of another building. It was the giant, yellow, funky G that gave it away. Climbing the stairs proved a challenge after Anna and Dawn's long run from the unlaw, even with their rest; but they made it. They marched into the place and walked up to the front counter.

"Welcome to Team Galactic Shopping Center: how may I help you?" asked the Space-receptionist. She wore the same strange haircut as the other spacemen they had seen but had a really lacey and fabulous blue and white dress on.

"You're a shopping center?" Justyna asked.

"Yup."

"Oh okay-"

"Not okay," Anna intervened, "Get out of town or we'll kick your butts."

"Unlikely." Said the women with a manufactured smile, "I can't get past that door over there, and therefore cannot inform my superiours."

They were going to prove her wrong. But she was right. Kisa charged at the door with all the raw power of an angry woman, and nothing. The door was shut tight.

"Well…go about your business then." Dawn said as they left really awkwardly.

"But we'll be back!" Cody yelled.

And then they went to the gym to learn how to fly.


	31. The Star, the Brat, and the Lake

The gym was stuffed with three large boxing rinks. They were empty. There were also random punching bags hanging from concealed locations on the ceiling. There was a brown-haired man in the room who jumped when Anna, Justyna, Dawn, and Cody entered.

"Who the hell are you?" Justyna demanded. "You're in every gym we've been to!"

"It's Busse, okay?" And then he ran out, character established.

The quartet looked around confused; the gym leader and any trainers were not present where they should be. They searched for a bit: Light sniffed around; Piotr used his tail to search some of the unlit corners of the building; V jumped around and bit the weights that were lying everywhere. Paul surveyed the area around him and suddenly shuppeted loudly when he realized something.

The back half of the gym collapsed. The event seemed to have been brought on by an outside blast of power, so the noise was even more deafening. Anna screamed and ducked. Cody ran away. Justyna did a flip backwards in all the excitement. Dawn stood perfectly still and glanced at Paul, who was also floating without a single disturbance.

A small girl and a large purple machoke(and not in the good sense) stood on a pile of rubble, looking triumphant.

"We did it Mr. Muscles! We destroyed the establishment of our oppression!" The machoke roared in agreement.

"Aren't you the gym leader here?" Dawn asked.

"Yep!"

Since Dawn had a manual, she had known what to expect. Anna and Justyna had not.

"You're a kid? What are you six?" Justyna exclaimed, failing to do a forward flip consciously.

"I'm nine." The girl replied in an as-a-matter-of-facty voice.

"Why'd you destroy your gym?" Cody asked.

The little girl looked back swiftly and then back and then again, at the destroyed pile she was standing on.

"CRUD!"

As it turned out, she was training behind the gym, and in a moment of bliss, decided to see if she could destroy a giant wall. Cody's eyes widened to their maximum size at the sheer stupidity. Anna assured him that it could happen. She did have a younger sister and experience around children.

"This is exactly why I never want to procreate." Dawn growled.

Children are also easily provoked into negative emotions.

"That's real mean of you!" the childish gym leader shouted, "That's like saying the Jonas Brothers are stupid!"

"Oh, you need to be beaten down." That statement, surprisingly, came from Anna.

Again with the negative emotions. The girl grabbed two pokeballs out of the pocket on her tight workout suit and released a lucario and a meditite. The machoke stood up from his rest and stood alongside them, ready to pummel. This friends, was a three-on-three battle.

"Dawn? It's time to repay your debt." Justyna smiled grimly.

Light seemed to have been crushed under the rubble and Piotr and V were currently digging him out. Paul wasn't much for fighting; Dawn sent out Anthony instead. Anna released her Staravia and Justyna sent out Monty. The two birds circled the field above as Anthony was left defenseless down below.

The small gible was not an idiot though, and he used Earthquake to knock their opponents off balance. This allowed both of the birds to swoop down from opposite sides, both Pecking, and attack the opposing pokemon. The lucario shook it off first and Force Palmed the ground. The shockwave knocked over the small landshark, and meditite quickly used Psychic to disturb him. Staravia dived at the small, floating monkey thing in an attempt to stop the attack but was whisked out of the way by the machoke, who threw her to the ground with all his purple might. When she caught her breath, the bird looked up and saw that all three of the enemy's pokemon were being Wing Attacked by Monty. The small black bird was so riled up, at one point, the opponents moved away and he still kept slashing madly. He soon realized there was nothing there and looked up in time to receive and uppercut from Lucario. Mr. Muscles the machoke grabbed Monty out of the air and threw him across the demolished room. By this time, Anthony had recovered and sent a wave of Dragon Rage on the three pokemon. He dodged several of their punches but was forced to retreat and await the help of the birds.

Monty flapped over to them but shortly collapsed on the floor. You could say he was peckered out. Anthony laughed. Staravia landed beside him and cawed worryingly. Too bad children and their pokemon are not very considerate. Mr. Muscles stomped over and punched her out and then threw Anthony back to his comrades so that they could FINISH him. Staravia puffed herself up in anger. She started to glow white.

"Well, THIS is unexpected!" Dawn said sarcastically.

"ANNA! Make sure to look! Just because I missed mine, doesn't mean you have to too!"

She did and witnessed the bird small enough to sit on your shoulder, transform into a raptor 1.25 times her size. The beast cried out loudly. The terrible sound echoed menacingly, even though half the building was destroyed. She leaped into the air and sped towards the enemy trio like a bullet. She Pecked the tiny meditite out of the picture entirely and then Wing Attacked Mr. Muscles, who stumbled back and fell over a curled up Anthony who proceeded to attack him as well. The large machoke was dead. However, the two were high-fiving when the girl's lucario appeared and punched Anthony in the face. The jackal grabbed Staraptor's beak and threw her across the room.

And now it was time for something completely different. Monty had recovered just enough to Wing Attack the bugger. The enemy was defeated. And plop went the Monty.

"Of course it's fair." Justyna snapped when the smallish gym leader started to complain. "We won and we demand proper pay."

So reluctantly, she handed them their Cobal Badge. Light turned out fine and they left the gym feeling berry happy.

"Let's go get something to eat huh?" Dawn suggested.

"Wait, we gotta get Cody home first."

After their pokemon had recovered at the Pokemon Center, Staraptor was released and Anna and Cody got on to quickly return the latter, home.

"Staraptor! Let's fly!" Anna commanded.

Everyone whooped in excitement as Staraptor flapped her wings and didn't levitate but an inch off the ground. Anna ordered her bird to repeat the action but she did nothing.

"Does your Staraptor know Fly?" a helpful bystander asked, "Do you have the Fly HM?"

They did not. And without an instructional CD to teach their birds the attack, none of them could fly. Bummer.

"Where can we find such a machine?" Dawn asked. But unfortunately, that was the extent of the man's usefulness and he left.

They had their edible something, but a sad cloud was cloaking their sunny day now. They decided to move on. After all, besides the gym and the department store, there wasn't anything of interest in Veilstone. They headed south and passed through a rest house that served cookies for snacks. Paul took one last look at the city before they left. The tall spiked edifice of the Galactic Corporation loomed over the town even more menacingly. A refreshed Light barked at him and the two followed their owners inside.

~I*T*R*I*S*O*~

After the author acquired more dragonwell tea, the adventure continued with the four teens, blanket, and green fox/feline as they emerged onto the bright and sunny path. The road was long and flat and carpeted with a lush green with only a few trees dotting the landscape. Anna decided to let Kisa join the fun(and let her carry them) along with Paul and Light. The birds were also released so that they might enjoy the fresh air. And to top it off, Luxio, Kitty and Riley were sent out too. The two electric pokemon were chased by the energetic Kitty as Paul and Riley sat among the forage on Kisa's back and discussed the Id, Ego and Super-Ego's play in routine events.

The pokemon were occasionally prevented from their play and used in quick battles, even Poofy made an appearance. What a coincidence. They were strolling along when Cody spotted a large cave protruding from the mountains to their right. Since he brought it up, Justyna assumed he wanted to explore it as well. She grabbed him and her pokemon and they ran into cave, leaving Anna and Dawn to fend through the wild, wild world. Dawn sent out Anthony in an attempt to comfort the Riley-less Paul but it wasn't the same. Paul wanted to talk about Sigmund Freud's psychosexual development theory and all Anthony wanted to talk about was bananas.

They went on, not intending to wait until their hyper friend got back three hours later. Dawn took Justyna's place in the double battles they encountered, using Obama and Anthony quite well. In fact, the white light returned to shine on our heroes again and Dawn acquired a pokemon actually useful in battle. The gabite roared in attempted rage.

The afternoon was starting to dim when they remembered Justyna; Monty and Staraptor had flown down from the skies together. And right on cue, Justyna and Light and Riley came running from behind them, screaming wildly, "Guess what just happened?" They traveled on whilst listening.

"Okay, so Cody and I were running through the cave and we ran into this guy. He said his name was Jacob and he was digging holes all over the cave – oh, by the way, I caught this cute hippo pokemon in the cave, it was snorting like it had cotton balls in its nose – and he told us to leave because we hadn't caught all the unown(see Dawn, I told you we missed some). And at first we were like, what? But then I remembered when we were in the Ruins and Cody asked Jacob if he was looking for them too. And he said 'yeah' so we assumed that the Ruins were nearby and they were! Cody and Poofy used dig and Riley and I helped, and we got to this big chamber where there were these sleepy unown that looked like punctuation marks, so we caught those. And then we were running and we fell off this hill and we were in Solaceon Town! That was easy, eh? And we stayed there a bit because I wanted to check on Silver and he seemed really happy so that was good. OOO! While we were walking! Cody stepped into this HUGE pile of gum, except it wasn't gum it was a DITTO!"

Justyna snatched her bag and pulled out a large, brown egg with a white zigzag on it.

"I asked Cody if I could use it since I know eevees are rare and really cute and we put him and Light in the daycare and we got an egg! Oh, he named the Ditto, Kirby, by the way." Light, who was talking with Luxio and Kitty, suddenly froze up and genuinely shivered in brick-shitting fear. Even Paul flinched after feeling the jolteon's terrible aura. Obama and Anthony were now out and Light eyed the former with an ominous look. He could be next. He hoped.

"Hey! Anthony evolved! Let's find someplace to camp and eat huh?"

They continued to walk and it started to rain as evening came on. They steered off the beautiful but open route and wandered into the forest that was protruding from the right. They had to run deep into the forest to find some proper protection though. They were setting up a tarp that Justyna had been smart enough to buy at the Department Store, when she left them and let the whole structure fall over. Anna, Dawn, and Paul(Light quite disliked the rain) followed her.

The shimmering of water under moon and rain had caught her eye from the darkness of the forest. They were standing by a large lake.

"Could this be the Lake Valour I read about in my manual?" Dawn asked aloud. Paul nodded. Since they were so near, they let out their water pokemon to play in the rainy lake, and also Kisa, who enjoyed the opportunity to water her back. Except for Dawn, who didn't send out ANYBODY. She felt a bit sad. But she had none to fear, for contrivance was there to save the day.

Later, whilst they were enjoying the starry, rainy night, Kisa jumped up, causing the whole lake to shake. Riceball immediately leaped out of the water to help her companion. A small, blue creature had startled the torterra. It was motionless and tense, apparently too shy or scared to make a move. The forest turtle and penguin called Golduck, the only one with thumbs to pick up the suspect and take him back to camp for some therapy. The reluctant duck carried the little guy back to the tarp-camp and placed him next to the campfire and returned to the lake.

Anna was already asleep and Justyna was off dancing, so Dawn was left to contemplate the fate of the little, blue mudkip.

Justyna came back an hour later and noticed that Dawn had an extra pokeball on her waist before plopping down into the mud to sleep. And the next morning, the first thing she asked was:

"Did we ever learn the name of that gym leader brat?" They had not.


	32. Valourific Adventure Part One

Her name wasn't important anyway.

Dawn introduced her new mudkip to Justyna and Anna; his name was Valour, after the lake where they had found him. They proceeded to leave said lake along a clear-cut path when Paul quickly floated off the beaten path. Dawn was forced to follow him and in turn Justyna and in turn Anna. When they had caught up with him, they were out of the forest and back on the route from yesterday. Since they were already there, they continued to follow it south. They soon encountered an opening protruding out of the forest. Upon investigation, they ran into a group of four men, who were rather badly hiding their strange, turquoise haircuts, blocking the way. Although they were suspicious, they were wearing suits, which means that they were definitely trustworthy. Our heroes left after being informed that the lake was being redecorated.

"That probably wasn't true." Justyna said aloud.

She received two 'no shit' looks from her friends but neither of them said anything else. So neither of them is very conscious.

They continued down the path until they encountered a large staircase built upon a lush but well-trimmed hill. At the top of the hill was a large complex with shiny, white buildings. There was another staircase leading down the hill to their left but there was another man in their way. He wasn't wearing a suit but he had big muscles and a screwed expression. While wandering around, they heard talk that this was a hotel. Now, they had been in a lot of luxury hotels before…but this was nothing like those. This one had a pool and a slide and a restaurant and a large park right on the hillside. And just to add to the fabulousness, they were surrounded by a beautiful landscape of beach and sea and forest. That was enough to convince even Dawn to take a three-day break from their journey and relax near the water. They checked into the hotel, jumped into their swimsuits, seized three chairs near the pool, and released their pokemon, who went to play in that large meadow of a park near the hotel.

-shifting perspective…please wait-

~-SHIFT COMPLETE-~

The park was generously spacious. The trees were quite tall and blocked out a significant amount of light, so there were comfortable shades to relax in. There was a light breeze that rustled the sleeping grass. Kitty raced across the lawn, skipping and leaping with each excited breath. Light and Luxio chased after him in light-hearted annoyance. The skitty was a pain to catch but they didn't mind humouring him every once in a while. Obama trotted after them, making sure that they were playing fair.

"Light! Don't you dare shoot off any sparks here!"

The jolteon quickly whipped around and sent a 'playful' Thunderbolt his way. "Piss off! I've been on this team longer than you have! Don't YOU dare order me around!"

Light abandoned his chase with Luxio and dashed after the umbreon. Valour quickly rolled out of the way. The four feline pokemon were rough and too engaged in their own games to notice him. He crawled away, clutching the ground in nervousness.

He found a spot in the shade on the far side of the park. The little mudkip observed the area, flinching whenever a sharp action broke the calmness over the park. Riceball, Kisa, and Golduck were at the opposite end of the park, near the exit, and were also surveying the area. Expect for the duck. He was sleeping, as he liked to nowadays. Kisa and Riceball, however, kept a sharp eye on the rest of the pokemon. They didn't seem like that much fun…

Valour could hear loud squawking overhead. He couldn't get up a tree, nor did he want to. Monty and Staraptor were up there. The small black bird was dominating whatever conversation the two were having. He puffed himself up and spoke with a didactic tone, while the bird at least five times his size, meekly perched by him and listened.

He noticed Cranidos and Piotr fighting and simultaneously avoiding the felines chasing each other around the park. He could tell that they were focused on nothing but each other and that disturbing them would be incredibly awkward…

Lastly, he saw the small group of pokemon sitting in the shade; discussing something smart he was sure. He couldn't hear them well but he recognized the animated voice of Makowca; the small typhlosion was occasionally releasing puffs of fire during the conversation. There was the shape of equal size sitting across from her, Anthony the gabite. And there were two others, who were in their own little group within the group: Riley and Paul, talking about something else.

The little mudkip stood up and walked around the perimeter of the park, avoiding the other pokemon. He trotted past Kisa and Riceball. He almost wanted them to notice him. But they didn't, they were too busy keeping an eye on Light and Obama. Valour sighed longingly and left the park.

He though about going to his owner, he didn't know her that well, but she seemed nice…but he was discouraged by the sight of his owner falling into the pool and chasing around one of the others, the one with the hat. He strolled across the white granite floor, avoiding the occasional hotel guest. He felt a little better in the bright sun. He wondered if he should go back to the park; maybe ask if he could join the felines…?

He suddenly heard a women cry. He had wandered pretty far away. He was at a bright white fence and a woman was trying to reach over it. He noticed there was hole in the fence and out of slight curiosity, crawled through it. There was ledge on the other side; if he were only slightly bigger, it would have been hazardous to attempt to cross. He noticed something sparkling on the ground and bounded over to see what it was. It was a white key. He picked it up in his mouth and heard the happy squeals of the women. He stood on his back legs and handed the lady her key. She pet his head kindly and disappeared behind the fence. Valour smiled to himself. He felt a bit more confident now. He _would_ go back and ask the cats if he could play with them.

But unfortunately the ledge was muddy after the previous night's rain. Valour took two steps and slipped, tumbling down the ledge into the dark forest below.

Paul was listening to Makowca with one ear and Riley with the other. She was talking about Johto, where she was from apparently. Riley was asking him about the strange humans in outlandish suits that seemed to plague their travels as of late. Paul was about to respond to him when a sudden feeling of dread ran up his spine; he could sense the sensation of falling. He tried to calm himself and locate the source of the distressing emotion.

"Paul? Is everything alright?" Riley asked, concerned.

"And Monty was telling me how Sinnoh is better and – dude? Are you listening to my story?" Makowca demanded.

"Where's Valour?" Paul ignored both questions.

"Who?" the typhlosion said the question without much care for the involved.

"That little, blue guy?" Anthony asked.

"Yes. Is he here?"

They got up to look. The cats soon got word of what had happened and alerted Kisa and Riceball. They all gathered in the middle of the park.

"What's happened?" Kisa asked in a worried tone.

"Valour is gone." Riley answered, reading Paul's thoughts.

"Who?"

"The new guy! You insensitive fool!"

"Shut up, you two!" Riceball spat. Light and Obama glared at each other but quieted down. The empoleon turned to Paul, awaiting an explanation.

"I felt a disturbance; it carried the mudkip's aura. He seems to have wandered off somewhere."

"He'll come back. He's got nowhere to go." Makowca yawned, "It's not a problem."

"It is! Something happened to him." Riley hissed, backing up his friend.

"Oh dear!" Kisa gasped.

"Crap, we need to find that kid!" Riceball said in turn.

They couldn't all leave, of course. Riceball and Kisa had to stay and keep the others in line. Piotr and Cranidos were too childish to take. Makowca, and Anthony were quite uninterested in the rescue, bastards that they were. Riley and Paul would go indefinitely. Kitty wanted to go out of boredom. Obama wouldn't allow that without his own accompaniment for safety. Light wasn't going to let the umbreon show him up and dragged Luxio into the excursion as well.

"This isn't a picnic." Riceball scolded.

Kisa agreed sharply. "Just bring him back and don't attract any attention. The masters will worry if they find you gone."

The six nodded and sneaked out of the park, avoiding their owners. The remaining pokemon watched.

"Don't you think it's kind of stupid to have so many pokemon gone?" Anthony mused.

"Kitty wanted to go, and there's no stopping that little one. Or the consequences that follow him." Kisa sighed.

"Sooo…I think they're gonna fail." Makowca teased and received a quick whack in the face from Riceball. Golduck woke up from the noise, and wondered what the hell had happened.

Paul and Riley led the rather large group past their distracted owners. Avoiding notice from all the other hotel guests was a problem, but luckily they didn't seem to care about their obvious misplacement. Humans seemed to be like that.

They followed the trail that the mudkip left behind. Only Paul and Riley could feel it, so the others followed blindly. They wandered across the white tiles, down some stairs where the manufactured floor was replaced by natural grass. Paul stopped and looked up. They were several meters away from a tall, white fence.

"It seems that Valour went behind that fence…" He started. Thinking that he had finished his observation, Kitty, followed by Obama, followed by Light and Luxio ran and jumped the fence. They screamed and there was a loud splash at the bottom.

Being more cautious, Riley and Paul followed. Riley's efforts proved useless; the hill was slippery and he met the same fate as the others. Paul was able to gently float down to them. They had landed in a large pile of mud; Light wasn't very happy.

"What the hell was that kid thinking?" Light sighed.

"I doubt he planned to fall down." Obama pointed out, shaking himself off.

Before they could get into another fight, Luxio found small tracks leading out of the puddle.

Valour had walked very far. He had been pretty close to the mountain at one point; he wondered if he could make it back to the lake. But it was only a passing thought. He became distracted pretty often, chasing after a beautifly and following a startled pachirisu. It eventually disappeared out of sight and he had to stop to examine where he was. That is, he was lost. He was more scared now, trying to find sunny places to walk and looking around for any familiarity. He had almost lost hope when he suddenly noticed a large open space ahead of him. He ran out onto a hill that overlooked a vast, mud-covered landscape. It had a very fresh smell; it had recently rained after all. To a little mud-dwelling guppy, it was a never-ending playground.

"Monty…? Are you sure you know where we are?" Staraptor got the courage to ask.

"Of course!" He barked back, "What makes you think otherwise? I always know where I'm going!"

She held in any kind of response to that last sentence. "Well, we just flew off after we heard them talking about Valour's disappearance…I mean, they said they would send out a search party s-so-"

"WE can cover much more area from the air! Those others are probably lost! They were stupid not to ask for our help!"

"Well, you just flew off, like I said…"

"Star! Just look for any blue blobs!" Monty commanded.

Star, however, knew that would be impossible in such a forested area. She instead looked for any sources of water or other places that might interest a water pokemon. By coincidence, they both found what they were looking for.

"Monty! Maybe Valour is down in that marsh there!"

"I see the kid!"

There was indeed a small speck of blue below them, playing in the mud. They swooped down to meet the target. Monty flew in fast and reckless, blowing a lot of wind around and flinging the blue creature out of the mud. It wasn't the mudkip they were looking for.

"Woop!" the little creature cried out in fright.

"Oh Monty…it's a little wooper." Star gasped. She flapped over in an attempt to help the little guy up. He was even younger than Valour, just an infant.

"Leave him! We need to find that kid!" Monty shouted, flying up to perch in a tree and get a good look around. Star sighed, quickly helped the wooper up and flew up to join him. Not long after that, they saw the small blue wooper wander over to their tree, wooping it up.

"He seems to like us." Star smiled. She enjoyed children.

"Shit." Monty hissed. "Hey! Kid! Get out of here!" He shouted.

"Woop woop!" The little wooper jumped up and smiled. He attempted to spray them with water, but he was too young for a proper Water Gun attack. Monty quickly sent a Wing Attack towards the infant, knocking him back into the mud. It waddled away, crying.

"Monty!"

"I didn't hit him that hard." He attempted to calm her.

"Did you really? I thought you hated children."

"I wouldn't kill one on purpose."

"How can you say that like it's nothing? It's a child, you shouldn't hurt it at all!"

"Oh, calm down."

"It-it's – don't do it again."

"I won't."

"Mean it."

"I do."

"Really? Because I can never tell with-"

"Hey! You bastards!" shouted a heavy female voice. The two birds looked down. There was a large quagsire staring up at them. A little wooper was by her side, still crying. "Did you attack my daughter?"

"Daughter? I couldn't tell at all." Monty laughed lightly. Star tried to warn him but was interrupted.

"Oh no you didn't!" the mother quagsire shouted, "And you did, didn't you?"

"Well, I believe that is a paradox!" Monty chuckled.

"Can you PLEASE stop being a wiseass?" Star whispered.

"Well! Come on, dear." The quagsire stomped off, pulling her child away with her.

Monty scoffed, "Now let's look for that mudkip."

"Watch out!" Star exclaimed after a minute of searching. There was a large glop of mud flying through the air, right towards them. She could have just flown out of the way but not without Monty."

"Calm down, that's Mud Bomb. We're flying types." His snarkiness kept him glued to his spot. Star stayed by him, not the least bit reassured.

The glob hit them with a bone-crushing force. They fell off the branch and smashed into the ground. The mud slipped off the projectile to reveal a sharp, heavy rock.


	33. Valourific Adventure Part Deux

They could smell their destination from five minutes away.

"A marsh?" Obama pondered, "It seems we've found potential for finding our little friend."

"Indeed. He definitely was here." Paul confirmed, "…I sense some other emotions…"

Riley closed his eyes and let his mind wander, encountering auras in the area and then brought himself into his rational mind to try to identify them.

"Monty and Star were here….there were also some other pokemon…"

"They were fighting." Paul sensed, "They're not here…they either flew away or were taken away."

"DUN DUN DUN!" Kitty laughed, naïve to the dangers of the situation. Light rolled his eyes and Luxio looked out over the vast muddy land. He felt uncomfortable at the thought of wandering through them, but he knew that they had to bring the little mudkip home.

"Star! Wake up!" Someone hissed in her ear. She sprung away when she heard a loud slap following the whisper. Monty was recovering on the floor, and a large, ferocious quagsire was hovering over him. Being a male, she quickly assumed it was the father of the wooper child they had terrorized. She cursed Monty in the back of her mind.

She suddenly gasped; it wasn't just the quagsire couple and their child: there was a clan of at least thirty quagsires and wooper clustered in a large burrow. She and Monty were tied with thick vines collected from the bogs. They were placed in the back of the burrow, making the cave seem like a long dungeon that they couldn't escape.

"How dare you!" Monty shouted, rocking himself up, "We've done nothing wrong! And you've got us tied up and captured!"

Although Star couldn't defend him for his teasing of the child, she agreed that they had done nothing evil or heinous. Why were they there?

"Shut up, you dark night-bird!" the male quagsire slugged him again, "Don't think you're superiour to us because you've got a human! And yours especially! You won't hand us over to them!"

"Our humans?" Star asked; she didn't understand. They're humans weren't dangerous, not intentionally anyway.

"What about them?" Monty growled.

"They go around in their white disguises and steal pokemon! They use you birds as scouts and tormentors! How can you obey such beasts?" a quagsire in the back piped up. The room exploded with anger.

"Those humans took my baby!"

"They stole my grandpa!"

"And we've got enough problems as it is!"

"MY MASTER WOULD NEVER DO THAT!" Monty screeched. If there was one thing he would defend, it was his master's honour, "You're all idiots! What are you talking about, stealing?"

"They come here often and take us away! I knew a whole family croagunk that was stolen last week!" someone cried, "Don't pretend as if you don't know!"

"We don't! Honestly!" Star pleaded. She was also backhanded by the quagsire.

"It's best you keep quiet. Now what are we gonna do with you?"

The mud was particularly sticky today; it was very hot today. The stench was also overwhelming, making it difficult to sniff out the mudkip or the birds, meaning the six of them had to cluster around Riley and Paul, who could sense aura that was impervious to mud. They wove a long trail through the mud over what seemed to be hours.

"The sun is setting…" Luxio pointed out, getting nervous.

"Quite, I wish we had those birds to help us." Obama pondered.

"Should we find them?" Kitty asked.

"That'll waste even more time!" Light complained, trying to shake the mud off his paws.

"We'll have to eventually." Paul pointed out, "If they were flying around here, they would have seen and talked to us."

"I dunno…Monty's a bitch!" Kitty shouted. Obama hit him in the head for it.

"Watch you're language!" Kitty laughed but stopped short.

"Hey! Is that him?"

They looked in the direction she was pointing and quickly spotted the small, blue shape of their lost comrade. They stumbled through the mud, shouting to him and waving their paws. Paul, being able to float, reached him first.

"There you are, at last," the shuppet sighed, "We've spent all day looking for you."

"Yep!" Kitty piped up, leaping out of the mud and sinking back into it upon impact. The mudkip laughed and Paul revealed a tiny smile.

"Alright, enough of this!" Obama stressed. "We need to get ourselves back to our masters before nightfall!"

"Aww! Let's stay a bit! I'm sure Merry Master will let us stay out longer!" Kitty whined.

"No! Let us go. Now." Obama insisted; his markings started to faintly glow, signaling the rapidly approaching evening.

Riley reached to pick up the mudkip but he sprang away. He skipped around the group, seemingly on top of the mud.

"Okay little guy, stop fooling." Lux agreed, "It's gonna take a while to get home, and we still have to find those birds!"

The little mudkip shook his head viciously, proclaiming: "This is more fun!"

"We can have fun at home. Let's go." Light said, still cranky over the muddiness.

"Let's go…?" the mudkip asked, seeming to want another word.

"What?" Obama demanded, also anxious.

"Who? What's my name?"

"Va-v-that doesn't matter right now! Look, it's already sunset! We need to get back or else all of us will get in…" Light had said something wrong.

"A pickle?" Obama offered, acknowledging the wrong mistake.

"That's just stupid!" Light argued.

"Valour!" Riley shouted.

"Val-Valour? Valour! Where are you going!" Kitty called, inserting his desired perks, failing to realize their consequences.

The mudkip was out of sight, melting into the swamp along with his tears. The group was about to look for him, when they heard far more concerning screams coming from across the orange-to-purple marsh.

"He's here again! He's returned!" The quagsires were running around in a panic. They started to push themselves as far back into the cave as they could to avoid the danger at their door, thus suffocating Monty and Star, who asked of the matter.

"Audrey! He's back!" They shuttered.

"Along with you! And the humans in white! That thing always comes to ransack our burrow! He eats everything! There was even a rumour that he ate a child!" Some of the females screamed.

"What do we do?"  
"He's not going to leave us alone!"

"Then feed him!" Monty shouted, "Just bribe him and he'll let you alone! I would think that would be one of the most obvious solutions."

"Don't you mock us! If you were in our skins-!" That was the father of the little wooper they had teased, the very stressed leader of the quagsires.

On his command, several of the males picked up Star and Monty and made a mad dash to the door, throwing the birds outside, and then quickly retreating into their burrow.

"Monty? Monty!" Star called, "Where'd they throw you? We need to untie our…selves…" Her voice died as a tall, black, flowing figure obscured the sun. He moved quickly, circling her and hissing in a high, ear-splitting voice.

"Hey! Leave her! Where the fuck are you, you monster!" Monty screeched. The creature hissed in annoyance, swinging its jaws around to face him.

They pushed on through the mud, frantically. They could hear the frightened cries but couldn't move fast enough to comfort them. They heard them die down at one point, but they were immediately continued by more, ones more familiar to them.

"Star!" Lux called to his teammate, "If anything's hurt her-WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT?" He shrieked in a rather embarrassing pitch.

Star was taller than her master. She was big and strong enough to possibly fly the Lux, Light, Obama, Kitty, and Riley all the way to Hearthome City. She was a puny, pathetic and scared creature compared to Audrey. Something must have been done to him. They all froze as the carnivine turned away from Star, and eyed them.

His leaves were darker like old spinach and his teeth were brown and stained. His torso was so out of proportion to his body, it was unbelievable that he could stand, almost float on his thin, leafy legs. His long arms blew in the wing without purpose and his large flat head, with two eyes placed too far apart and so dark that he looked like he couldn't see at all, eyed them with blind, ravenous rage.


	34. Valourific Adventure Part Fin

"Better than everything! It's all awesome! It's awesome because it's some…thing!" Valour sang loudly as he frolicked around in the mud. He was concerned about his voice or lyrics or anything at all. He jumped out of the swamp and onto some dry land for a chance, although nothing is impermeable to water in a marsh. He skipped through the patches of long grass until he came upon a succession of boulders and decided to try to leap from one to the other. He had successfully jumped seven in a row when he was blow off the rock by a lash of electricity.

It only stung him a little but it left him dazed and open to another, more powerful, Thunderbolt. The little mudkip yelped in pain and instinctively hid behind a rock. He peeked out to see a tall, brown-haired female human with a long, elegant dragonair searching for him. He couldn't understand the human but could guess what she was talking about by her pokemon's responses.

"Don't worry Master! I shall seek out the little creature for you!"

He tried to sneak away. He thought he was out of their sight and broke into a run. He ran through the noisy grass and when he turned his head to look back, he rushed right into the snake-like dragon, who zapped him with another electric attack. He withered on the ground in pain.

"I have found you, and now I shall take you to my wonderful master~!" she sang as she carried him back, "May I ask how you got here? I haven't seen your kind here in all the weeks we have been combing through this Zone."

"I don't live here! I have a master!" Valour whined.

"Do you? Where is it?" she looked around mockingly, believing him to be bluffing.

"I do! And I have other team members who are around here! Kitty! Paul! Obama!"

"Obama~? Well, I believe that you don't live HERE." The dragonair laughed.

She successfully brought Valour to her master, wrapping around her affectionately. Her master smiled and stroked her head. She pulled out a yellow-coloured capture-ball, and tossed it at the paralyzed mudkip. It hit his head lightly, like a tap on the head, and shocked him with all the intensity that it's red colour suggested. He jumped up in shock, suddenly able to move again. The ball fell to the ground, useless. The electricity remained in the air though, and it rippled a newfound energy into the little mudkip. He dashed away, outrunning the dragonair that chased after him, instinctually. She soon stopped, called back by her master. Valour jumped in the mud and suddenly noticed how dark it was getting. He had to get home!

"Thunderbolt isn't working!"

"It's because we're in a swamp, you dolt!"

"You shut up, you fuckin-"

The thin but strong leafy arms of Audrey smashed Light and Obama into a rock. They lay unconscious as Luxio and Paul distracted the beast with their speed. Kitty jumped as well as he could through the mud, using Headbutt and Assist to try to wear it down. Assist only managed to pick up more water and ground type moves, dealing no sufficient damage to the carnivine.

"Riley! Hurry up!" Kitty cried.

The lucario was busy untying Star and Monty, who were the only ones who could do significant damage to the creature. This had gone unnoticed until Kitty had pointed it out. Audrey quickly turned its head towards the three and sent them flying across the mud. Monty was only half-untied and struggling to get out of the mud and Star had been flung at least ten yards away. Riley hastily finished untying him and he speeded towards the monster.

Audrey gave an immense roar as Monty pierced through its attack with a powerful Peck. It fell back into the mud, splashing it on Lux and Kitty, who sank into the swamp. Obama had been revived and sprang to his feet to assist Paul. Neither of them knew any particularly effective moves against the grass-type creature and it was now flailing itself around so that they had no opportunity to strike.

"Riley! Get Star untied!" Monty screeched as he flew above, looking for a safe spot to attack. He found one when Audrey started to slow down, but when he got close, the monster noticed him and was able to whack him away. The quagsires could be heard cheering inside their burrow. Monty swore something at them but was silenced by a dip in the mud. The creature reared again and roared, shaking the entire dominion. Obama was about to be pessimistic, but Paul suddenly sensed an unfamiliar aura.

"DUNDUNDUUUUUUUUN!" screamed a little shadow that seemed to be propelled by the force of a cannon out of the mud. It slammed into the top of Audrey's head, smashing him into the ground. The little mudkip rolled off it and sprayed the area with water, washing the mud away to reveal Kitty, Lux, and Light. Paul and Obama stood aghast.

"How did you make that leap?" Obama screamed in disbelief.

The little mudkip answered by jumping up and down rapidly, at least five times in a second. Paul could sense that he was overflowing with energy. Most of it was artificial but he could still sense a good potion of it being psychological.

"I just feel….AWESOME!" Valour yelled. He jumped around and sprayed Audrey with his Water Gun. It woke the monster but still didn't so much damage. Audrey responded by swiping its hand and flinging him away.

"Valour!" Paul called, forgetting to be a ghost and being flung away as well by a second swipe. He and Obama landed deep in the mud. Paul quickly abandoned the latter and flew back to the fight. Valour had gotten back there quickly too, only to be flung away again. Paul attacked Audrey with some of his ghostly attacks but couldn't do much else. Valour returned for a third time, speeding through the mud as if it was water. Audrey turned to whack him again but this time he dodged the attack and stood his ground.

"BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE!" he screamed with a crazy joy. A blast so powerful that Paul felt the aftershocks propelled Audrey backwards to its surprise. Paul quickly noticed that the reaction force had flung Valour away as well, leaving him stuck, headfirst, in the mud.

Audrey trumpeted in anger. Paul laughed in his ghostly way as the creature stood one last time.

"Paul! Move out of the way!" a voice warned him. He became transparent just in time as Star flew through him and hit Audrey with Aerial Ace. She rebounded off of him quickly and attacked once more with Wing Attack. Audrey screeched as it withered, attempting to attack once more before it was finally dispatched by Monty who had risen from the swamp.

"Die Motherfucker!" he cursed the creature. And it did. Audrey shrieked a high-pitched, pathetic sound, expelling all the life left in it into the air. Its dark leafy arms shrunk to the size of twigs and its viney legs buckled and let the monster's heavy midsection fall into the mud. Audrey's dark eyes grew darker than coal and seemed to melt away as his huge, shriveled head was consumed by the swamp.

After Riley, Paul and the Birds retrieved Light, Lux, Kitty, and Obama(who was rightfully mad about being abandoned by Paul), they went to find Valour. They found him, still headfirst in the mud, not moving.

"Is he dead?" Monty mused, poking Valour's little mudkip feet.

Monty almost died though, when the mudkip responded by jumping, feet first, into the bird's face. He laughed joyously and ran around them on top of the mud. Obama was worried.

"Do you feel alright child?"

"YEP!" the mudkip smiled, "YUPYUPAWESO-shouldn't we get home?"

"Shit!" Riley swore.

There was no time to lose. The stars were coming out. Star grabbed Luxio in her talons while Light, Obama, Kitty, and Riley got on her back. She lifted off sloppily and flapped as fast as she could. Paul flew beside them and Monty carried Valour, who was stick stuck on his face.

"Let's fly higher Monty!" the mudkip laughed.

"Get on my back and off my face or I'll fucking kill you too!"  
"Monty!" Star exclaimed.

They flew over the mountain and the forest. They could soon see the white human-place, which stood out vividly, even at night. They soared over the buildings and the pool area and landed rather loudly in the meadow where the rest of their teams were waiting.

"VALOUR! OMG." Kisa screamed. She trampled over to him to make sure he wasn't hurt. Riceball, being the sterner mother figure, waddled over to Monty and slapped him.

"Where the hell did you go? I thought I didn't have to be responsible for YOU!" Makowca laughed heartily.

As they argued, Valour jumped around happily on Kisa's back.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kisa asked.

"Mmmhmm!" the mudkip leaped off and glomped Kitty. He pushed him off and chased him around the torterra.

"Well, I see SOMEONE made some new amis!"

_HRQENFIENFANFKng,anga;hefiuefnagjkna;gkakglag_[ruqt[gqugqrgpqh -!

ERROR. RETRIEVING INFORMATION….LOADING HUMAN PERSPECTIVE…

Justyna, Anna and Dawn strolled into the picture. Anna and Dawn had their towels around their waists and Justyna had hers on her head in celebration.

"Adorable!"

"It is quite cute." Anna agreed.

Valour skipped into his master's arms, who immediately placed him on the ground.

"He's all muddy!" She ewwed. She gasped. "And so is Kitty!"

Kitty skipped over to her with a big smile that was dowsed by Valour. Literally. The mudkip laughed with glee and Paul rolled his eyes with a little hidden smile.

Dawn got them both cleaned up in their nice little hotel cottage, which they each had to themselves. Paul helped by levitating towels. Dawn let her five pokemon stay out and sleep either on, or in Anthony's case, next to her bed. He was getting to be quite large. Valour had calmed down by this point. All the electricity was gone and his new disposition had found its niche and settled into it. They all slept like the eggs.

Three days passed quickly with all the pool-side-hanging and the meadow-frolicking. The restaurant at the resort was delicieaux and the battles were ever hotter. Good thing they had Valour. And Golduck. And Riceball. And swimsuits.

They checked out in the late afternoon after lagging around, and continued to travel south along a beach. The sun was almost setting when they had battled past all the little girls and boys on the beach and reached the little cottage that stood at the end, just before the grass started to grow. They entered the house out of curiosity and found a rather chubby man with closed eyes. He spoke of feet.

"I look at footprints, you see." I doubt it and no. "I examine them and determine your pokemon's feelings for you."

For the hell of it, they let out Valour and let him dance around. He danced on the floor and the ceiling, and after he was done, the man responded:

"I can't read these footprints. But I can tell that thing is very happy." He gave them a ribbon as an incentive to leave.

They wandered through the grass that began to grow, battling shellos and gastrodon until they reached a small rest house that offered beverages. After that, it was evening time. They walked the short distance to Pastoria City and found their next hotel for the night.

"By the way…would you like to visit the Pastoria Safari Zone?" the receptionist suggested rather harshly.

"Well, now I don't!" Justyna yelled back, snatching the keys to their rooms. Anna and Dawn had no say in the manner.

They headed up three flights of stairs, which was good for them. They found their rooms and a nice brown-haired, tall girl who was wandering the halls with her dragonair.

"I like your mudkip." She said, pointing at Valour, who was sleeping in Dawn's arms.

"Thanks. I liek him too."


	35. Pastoria Padding! Let's get underway

Justyna finally decided to come downstairs after slakothing around her bedroom for hours. Dawn and Anna were already there; Paul, Piotr and Cranidos joined them, as well as brown-haired girl they had met the other night(whose hair was now black for a trendy reason). An elegant, long dragonair curled around the table so that she could reach the table and not take off space.

"What took you so long?" Anna asked.

"I was busy doing nothing, alright!" Justyna whined, "Let's get on with it."

After a nice screened breakfast of calorie-free waffles and non-allergenic maple syrup, they headed out, still accompanied by their new friend who now had a name: Katia. Her dragonair was named Pyhalka.

"Were we going to go the Safari Zo-"

"No." Justyna interrupted Dawn; quite rudely to be precise.

"Well, what else is there to do here?"  
Katia cleared her throat and pointed up at the familiar building towering over them. It was another gym! It seemed to be leaking. Katia reassured them that this was not unusual as it was a water-based gym. She soon changed that statement after they entered the gym.

"This place is completely flooded!"

"Well, it IS a water gym."

"But this is super flooded! Wake! Crasher Wake!" Katia screamed across the water. In response, a Masked Man who bore resemblance to a Mexican Wrestler traversed the waves on a tall gyarados that seemed barely able to support the massive man. He jumped down from his serphant all hasty-like.

"Miss Katia! Do you know what happened?"  
Katia knew Crasher Wake well enough to make an educated guess.

"The other day, these men in weird suits came into ma place and they asked for a gym battle. So I gave 'em one and of course they lost – the bastards. But then they got all mad for no reason and they messed with ma plumbing! They got croagunks and quagsires on them sides! Now ma place is flooded! Ma trainers all went home 'cause they were drowning in here! It's an absolute mess!"

"I see." Katia processed. Dawn, never the wiser, also saw and immediately spoke up.

"We can help you fix your gym. The three of us." She gestured at Anna and Justyna.

"For free?" Justyna inquired, cocking her head to the side. Dawn pushed her to one side with all the might she could muster.

"For a badge each." She responded, out of breath.

"Well, I dunno about that, l'il lady. I was thinking that battles are the only fair way to decide that sort of thing!"

"Nope, we only work for badges."

"Or money." Anna added.

"Or dungeon maps." Justyna added

"Well, I haven't got any money, so I guess I'm gonna hafta take your offer with those badges." Crasher Wake sighed in defeat; the poor man's wife had been trampled to death by a mamoswine.

As stated, the place was flooded. They were on a platform elevated higher than normal as it seems that Crasher Wake prepared for such moments. The platform blocked the door so they were almost obligated to help the old man. The water came up almost to the top of the platform. Pyhalka jumped in the water with Katia and urged the others to follow; she knew what she was doing, more or less.

"WAIT!" Justyna shouted, "Let's be smart about this."

They kept the old man underwater as the girls changed into their bathing suits. They had clothes and more important things that could not afford to get wet. They then jumped in. Justyna let out Riceball and sat comfortably on the large, penguin pokemon's back. Anna sent out Golduck whose humanoid frame made it a bit awkward to sit on him. Dawn sent out the only water pokemon she owned: Valour. No doubt, he was very excited and swam around in large circles until Dawn calmed him down and struggled to come up with an idea of how to use him to not drown.

"Just rotate your arms and bend your knees Dawn!" Justyna advised.

"I can't swim." She reminded her coldly. She finally figured out to just hug the little mudkip in her hands; he floated and he didn't mind being submerged. Katia nodded when they were all ready and told them to dive, dive, DIVE! They weren't ready for this but Justyna did it so the rest had to follow suit.

Katia led the way, her dragonair traveling quickly to the very bottom. Justyna was there a second later and her head very nearly exploded form the pressure. She resurfaced and decided to descend with her green-striped hat on. That would help alleviate the pain.

They were suddenly granted goggles by the universe and Katia guided them along the bottom of the gym and large pool, navigating the stupid maze that the gym set up. They had to quickly find the drain and drain the water before they ran out of oxygen! :o Thankfully they did find it fast but still had to resurface because…

"How are we going to get the plug out?" Anna asked.

"It's stuck in their tight." Dawn gasped for air.

As Justyna pondered about the eligibility of those last to lines to be innuendos, Katia though long and hard about this and finally shrugged and replied, "Just pretend you're a box of cereal."

They had no clue what she was on but she had a better clue than they did and they descended once more. The black, chained plug was indeed wedged in there; Riceball and Golduck gripped the chain and Pyhalka tried her best to as well with her snake-like body. Valour, being the energetic nutball that he was, temporarily left Dawn stranded at the bottom of the pool to tug at the stopper of the plug. It took 10 rigorous seconds to free the plug. Joy was soon replaced by utter realization of the suction force the drain was creating. Katia, Anna, and Justyna held fast to their large, aquatic pokemon as they fought the current and made their way to the surface, stuck fighting up there until the water level dropped. Valour valiantly swam against the current as Dawn's life clinged to him and held breath. He was able to keep them away from the drain of doom until the water level fell. That took a while and when all the water was finally washed away, Dawn was wriggling and gasping for breath on the floor for the third time that day. Justyna laughed.

"Valour's tiny!" Anna smacked her and they helped Dawn get back on her feet.

"That was easy, despite that last part." Anna commented, "At least we're getting badges for it."

"Indeed, I extend my fondest of congratulation to ya'll!" Crasher Wake laughed as the platform that he stood on descended, "I don't know what I would haf dun if you hadn't showed up! I just feel awful that I trusted those awful spacemen in comin' into this gym in the first place!"

"Yeah, you think those kind of people would draw a lot of attention." Justyna pondered.

"Can we have our badges now?" Dawn spat, still coughing up some water.

"Sure you can. NOT!" Crasher Wake laughed and his old manly voice echoed annoyingly through the chamber. They were stupefied. Justyna roared in frustration, telling him that believe it or not, their task had been hard and stressful. She threw her quick ball and released Light. Anna decided to join the anger and released Luxio. Crasher Wake was ready during the interlude. He threw a pokeball and let out a floatzel that towered over Light and flicked him away with a jump and a spin. It laughed in a rather amused and harmless sense. But you dont mess with Luxio and his boy. The lion snarled and suddenly…he glowed white! He grew a foot taller and was now a sparkling Luxray. Floatzel backed up, putting his hands up in a placid defeat. But the shining lion doesn't take any shit and Luxray glared and spun and whipped him against the wall.

Crasher Wake was suddenly very sweaty. He quickly ran off and returned when they had managed to climb out onto the platform.

"Badges! I promised Badges and here they are!" And he gave out Fen Badges to everyone, even Katia who now had three. They walked out with Luxray purring by Anna's side, and Paul following Dawn who had a gloomier than the usual gloomy feel to her. They had little idea of what just happened but they didn't care. They were getting out of this miserable little town. They healed up their pokemon and went west. Katia joined them, saying that she had never been on the route before, that she had lived in Pastoria for quite a while actually.

"Well, it's time to move on. Let us journey through this harsh and marsh! How bad can it be?" Justyna said with optimisme.

Like all answers to such questions, it took them three weeks to make it up the route. They fought all the people standing by the side of the roads; they killed all the bidoofs they could find(and believe me, they found some); they even stopped by the Mansion that was randomly placed by the route and contained a garden. It was there were Justyna was reminded that she had an egg in her Lucky bag and that she should probably take care of it more. Light shuddered. She had Makowca hold it and walk alongside them in the rain. It is essential to note that Pyhalka, Kitty, Monty, and Anthony were starting to get antsy; Paul and Riley as well but for different reasons. They finally reached the familiar safehouse that was placed at the end of each route. After muffins and refreshments, they exited the house and found themselves on a familiar, chocolate-brown, brick-paved street.

"This loops back to Hearthome! Who woulda guessed?" Justyna exclaimed as if they had just discovered gold. Dawn had known this all along but had refused to speak. They were going to end up here sooner rather than later. That was true. Katia had never been to the city and marveled at the bright, golden lights that illuminated the streets now that evening was dawning. She gasped and asked if they could visit Amity Park; her dragonair was quite happy and anxious as she trailed her owner.

"Later! I need a warm bed and a shower." Dawn and Anna complained. They were still girls after all.

"Wait!" Justyna commanded. She ruffled through Anna's bag and pulled out a business card that Anna angrily snatched away.

"When did we get this?"

The narrator made them in Graphic Arts! It was a pink little card that bore a ghostly outline of a pokemon and read the name Dale Kamonohashi; only backwards.


	36. It keeps Rollin'

The card didn't contain an address or a phone number; it was just a friendly reminder that they had a friend who lived in town and had lots of money, or at least enough to have business cards made to inform others. The girls guessed that Dale would be living in the most pimpin' place in Hearthome City. They were right; by asking around, they discovered that Dale lived in a moderately expensive, luxurious penthouse overlooking Amity Park. Justyna quickly barged in and got them past security with the most powerful weapons in her arsenal. They took the elevator up to the 4th floor, which was the entire living area, and knocked on the door. There was a ding and it opened and Dale was standing in front of them with an only slightly surprised expression.

"Oh, it's you guys." He said.

"DALE!" Justyna squealed and glomped him.

"Hey! I'm getting my nails done!"  
It turned out that…there was another women in the room with Dale! 0_0 He reassured them that it was not a fangirl but rather a fellow coordinator with whom he shared the penthouse; they just paid for it together. APPARENTLY. The girl walked in, black haired with a colourful outfit and massive weapons that seemed very soft. She trailed by a pikachu carrying nail polish and a Mismagius. The latter subsequently let out a high-pitched squeal of her own and hovered across the room to embrace Paul in her ribbony arms. He felt very uncomfortable.

Dale made them at home, bringing out cookies and tea, which tasted like green, and introduced them to Megan, his official coordinator buddy.

"Everyone's got a coordinator buddy!" Megan explained excitedly, "And that's me and Dale!" She pulled him close with a friendly hug. Dawn frowned neutrally.

"I don't have a coordinator buddy." She whined.

"What about me?" Justyna demanded. Dawn scootched away. She was suddenly very close to Katia, who had been quiet since she did not know their dim-dale friend.

"I like contests." She said casually, "I've won a few ribbons." Dawn grimaced as she hadn't won really ribbons, but she had won that Master Ball from her FATHER'S contest…

"Wanna be buddies?" Katia shrugged, facing Dawn. Dawn said 'sure.'

"That's perfect!" Dale exclaimed, "There's a contest coming up!"

"There always is in Hearthome." Anna remarked, sipping her tea.

"But it's strictly with partners, and we were looking for some ripe rivals~!" Dale added, nodding his head slowly with a calculating look at each of them. Excluding Justyna, who was eating all of the delicious cookies. Light was sitting next to her, trying to hide his embarrassment. Paul and Mismagius floated nearby; she was flirty; he was silent like a brick.

They awoke from Dale's multiple, floofy beds which he always kept in case of extreme partying fangirls, and had breakfast in his living room where they saw something they hadn't recalled ever seeing up 'til now, or at least in a while. A god-darn television. Dale had a adequately sized set and it played loudly as they ate.

"…Temperatures are dropping everywhere, wailords are rising up from their watery graves, and it'll snow next week! I swear it will! Something will happen!" Justyna switched it to a cartoon about a little black fox and a buneary. She yawned. They just don't write them as the used to. Paul stared intensely at where the previous channel had ran and poked Riley, who was eating next to him. Although the man had probably been insane, he was right.

The now FIVE girls and Dale made their way downstairs and out onto the streets of Hearthome. They passed that large, oppressive church on their way to register for the contest; Dawn looked at it with a calculating glare. Justyna snuck up behind her and frightened her five feet off the ground shouting 'YOM-TAH!'

The contest would be in two days, so after their registration, Dawn, Megan, Katia, and Dale went to the Poffin House to make some good stuff to spice up their pokemon for the contest. Justyna and Anna went to Amity Park again, since it was always a lot of fun.

"I'm gonna find a ton of leaves and berries and bows and a bunch of other accessories!" Justyna shouted, running off with Light and Riley by her side. Anna remembered and reminded her that she had a baby on board. Justyna ceased and pulled out the bluish egg that she had gotten with Cody's help; Light shivered as he saw it. Justyna then dashed away, carrying the egg above her head and laughing. Anna sighed and hit her forehead out of habit.

Anna went off on her own, releasing Kisa to ride on, and Piotr and Cranidos so that they could frolic and things. They enjoyed that quite a lot. So much so that when Anna was reading on her terrestrial tortoise, she was blinded by a white light and saw that Piotr had evolved. He was ugly, turning super red and growing a long horn out of his head. He smiled widely and continued to chase Cranidos, who was laughing and poking his buttons.

Kisa eventually settled down near some huge, ghostly rock formations and fell into a light sleep, always keeping one eye on the lovers. Anna kept reading her assortment of inappropriately graphic novels until she grew a bit bored, and reached into her bag to see what else she had in those depths. She was surprised to pull out a vegetable; a long green and white leek, that hadn't aged since she had first picked it up about thirteen years ago. Her train of thought was derailed by a call in her direction. Justyna had jumped up onto Kisa, still holding her egg in a rather unsafe position.

"It's moving around! I can FEEL the insides of this egg moving in my hands." She made Anna feel it and she admitted that there was indeed movement.

"Oh boy! What do you think it'll be? I hope it's an eevee!" Anna didn't know if she was joking but she said 'sure.' Then Justyna noticed that Piotr had evolved and asked if Anna had seen it. She cursed when Anna said she had not.

They eventually returned to the penthouse and saw a cavalcade of multicoloured poffins on the circular, glass-top living room table and the four coordinators, sampling and stuffing them into their pokemon. Pyhalka was snatching up all the blue ones, Megan's Pikachu was snobbily hoarding all the yellow ones, Dawn was feeding Kitty Pink ones, and Mismagius was gobbling up all the green ones. Paul of course ate all the red ones, cuz they were cool. LIKE ICE.

The others joined in the eating madness until they all fell asleep in front of the TV, draped all over the couches, poffins still in fists.

The next morning, their pokemon refused to eat any more poffins, which they found strange. The six of them decided to all go to Amity Park, which was always a great time. Katia's Dragonair jumped in the lake and her master rode on top of her, splashing water at Megan and her Pikachu. Megan subsequently sent out a Squirtle and a Totodile, with Valour let out to join and they trailed and shot their Water Guns at Pyhalka with all the force of a dripping faucet. Dale was followed by his Breloom and Mismagius as he took them to write poems in the ghosty rocks. The original trio stuck together.

"So Kitty is your choice this time?" Anna asked.

"I guess, at least for the first part of the contest. Then I'll probably use Anthony or someone. But I haven't got any…'pretty' pokemon. That makes me sad." She drew tears on her face with her kindergarten hands.

'Twas true. Paul was kind of creepy in the way that he stared at you, Anthony was kind of ugly but powerful, Valour and Kitty were cute and peppy, and Obama was S-L-I-C-K.

"Well, shmoople." Anna pondered; pondered when was the last time she had used that false-cuss.

"I think you need to up the ante." Justyna said, making some serious hands there: "You need to evolve Kitty."

Before Dawn could ask how, Justyna produced the moonstone that they had dug up ALL the way back in Chapter 10. She had kinda stolen it. Dawn was nonetheless grateful and when it was sunset everywhere, Dawn let the rock drop on Kitty in the light of the ending day and the kitten grew white with its own light, growing and becoming a tall, lovely delcatty. The first thing he did was skip around in a circle. Kitty jumped on Dawn and licked her face.

They returned again to the penthouse, surprising Dale, Megan, and Katia with Kitty, fell asleep, got up, and prepared for the contest. This one was supposedly big; it was the Bi-Annual Cotillion; very different from the Annual one. The contestees spent their day grooming their pokemon while Anna and Justyna lounged around and helped themselves to Dale's food. Well, Anna offered fashion advice. It was almost time to leave for the show when Dale suddenly shrieked.

"My tux is still in the wash!" he panicked.

"So?"

"I don't have time to dry it!" He ran around in circles, unclearly why but then he stopped and turned to Justyna of all people, "Can you come with me to go rent one really quickly?"

"Sure!" She was unaware of the problem.

They visited the Tux shop which was subtly named 'Tuxury World.' They entered and Dale asked the lone man in the store for a tuxedo.

"Sure man, whatever you like." He went in to the back to retrieve one. It was deathly and uncomfortable silent; for Dale. Justyna was looking around mindlessly at all the tuxes handing from the ceiling.

"It looks like an airplane hanger." She commented, "Or some top secret place, like in James Bond."

Dale giggled nervously. The man returned with a black tux. Dale snatched it up, paid, and he dragged Justyna out of the store, seeming very relieved.

"My hunch was correct! He would never talk about the tuxedo club around women; it's too secret!"

"I wanna join a tux club!" Justyna shouted, "Are there a lot of eligible men there?"

No time to answer! They got a quick text message: the girls were already at the Contest Hall. They had brought everything else that was required: they brought Dale's pokemon as well as Riley and Light, and Justyna's fancy white dress. Now they were all spifffied up for the contest. Anna and Justyna took their seats along with Riley, Light and the dino-lovers and awaited the start of the show.

There were six pairs that took the stage; Dawn and Katia and Dale and Megan were the only ones worth noting. They went through ze Showing Off Stage of the contest, the first four teams were unimportant; then it was Dawn and Katia's turn. Katia let out her dragonair and to complement the beauty, Dawn sent out Kitty, who was more than a little excited to display his new evolution. Pyhalka started twisting around onstage in an elegant Dragon Dance, an indication. Kitty jumped around her, ducking and flipping under and over her snaking body. The Dance ended abruptly and Pyhalka summoned a Twister that lifted Kitty up into the air where he spun around more, trusting her to keep him safe. He first used Heal Bell, mewing one clear, pleasant, ringing note into the silent audience who sighed in contentment. Kitty then used Assist, borrowing from Pyhalka's own move base, and used Aqua Tail. He smashed into the ground with his tail, causing water to spring up. It was sucked up by the Twister and formed a translucent water cyclone, which the two pokemon stood in the middle of. The water swirled slower for a moment, cloaking them completely, so that they could get into position. The water cyclone was destroyed by Pyhalka who smacking the water apart with an energetic Dragon Dance; the water fell and glimmered in the stage lights as Kitty did a dance of his own, leaping on top of her snaking body. The Dance ended and the Dragonair coiled up and raised its body elegantly above the crowd with Kitty sitting royally on her head.

Next were Dale and Megan. Dale sent out his Breloom and Megan, her faithful Pikachu, who was sporting a pretty checked scarf to go with Breloom's neckerchief. They leaped into the air and did the most epic high-five ever; electrical sparks and multicoloured leaves came off from the awesome contact. They landed with another great smash of leaves and electricity crackling around them. Breloom leaped at Pikachu but she was too quick and dashed underneath him, moving with sleek, invisible movements, seeming to control the time around. They continued to put on this mock battle, moving gracefully but with a battle-intense passion in their steps. Breloom used Seed Bomb, which Pikachu leapt out of the way of, shooting a Thunder Attack in the other's direction. It missed as well and the attacks exploded, their bright, beautiful lights illuminating the pokemon dodging skillfully out of the way. The attacks disappeared and the two pokemon stood at opposite ends of a long stage. It was still for but a moment, and then they bounded at each other, making it across the stage in one powerful leap each. When they came in contact again, Pikachu was holding out a blue ball of electricity with the apparent intent to hit Breloom. The attack was interrupted by Breloom's Force Palm. There was a single moment when the contact between the attacks was visible and then the electricity exploded, crackling throughout the auditorium with a swift, blinding light. The two pokemon leapt back and landed decisively in victorious poses as the remaining electricity snapping about them.

The results would not be given until the very end; the six teams were pitted against each other. The first battle was once again unimportant and it involved a bidoof as everything always did. The second battle was with Dale and Megan against two boys with a crobat and a blue shellos. The audience could guess who would win. The third battle was Dawn and Katia against a clefairy and a magnezone; Katia used her dragonair still, and Dawn decided to bring out Anthony. They won again and that was when the narrator realized what she hadn't thought through. But it thankfully worked out because the pair that had won the first battle was disqualified because they had been using illegal drugs such as Carbos and Iron to pump up their pokemon for the contest. So the last battle was set conveniently between the two pairs that anyone actually cared about.

Dale and Megan were still using Breloom and Pikachu because they were awesome. They sent them out as Dawn and Katia released Anthony and Pyhalka. The two dragons waited for the rag-tag mouse and mushroom to make a move. Pikachu struck first, aiming a Thunder at the seemingly water pokemon Pyhalka. The dragon retained minimal damage and she leapt at Pikachu. Breloom hit her in the face with a Force Palm; Pyhalka stuck him but Breloom dodged and attacked Anthony with Bullet Seed. Anthony instinctively swiped at the small seeds with his Slash and grounded a few but the stinging seeds still hit him. Breloom kicked him back and did a rebounding back flip, getting ready to charge at the land shark once again. Anthony used Dragon Claw at the open air; Breloom jumped into the air and Seed Bombed him. Anthony was able to shake him off for a second and started an Earthquake out of frustration. Breloom quickly jumped up as hard and high as he could to avoid the shaking ground. Pyhalka winced as the shaking ground inflicted damage on her. Pikachu screeched in agony as the ground knocked her to the ground and she clutched her head in pain.

The tremors subsided and as Anthony calmed down, Breloom jumped down and kicked him in the face again. Pyhalka was shaking off a migraine brought on by the quake and Pikachu was struggling to get up. She saw Breloom beating the ever-loving crap out of Anthony and pulled herself together so that she could join him. All she knew were electric attacks expect for Flash, and she used it as often as she could so that Anthony's hits kept missing and missing. Even his Earthquake missed her the next time he unleashed it. The shark fell to the ground, trying to protect its face from the angry Breloom but to no avail. There was another bright flash, but it didn't disorient him like the previous attacks. The kicks and punches stopped and Anthony opened his eyes to see that Pikachu and Breloom were standing in fear-stricken awe before a giant orange-yellow dragon. He wondered who it was until he recognized the wink that the lady dragon gave him. Pyhalka roared and whipped around, swiftly knocking Breloom and Pikachu aback with her tail. She snorted and took to the air, her little wings holding her up above the stage so that she could dive at the two opponents with a Dragon Rush that shook the entire building like Tesla claimed his Earthquake Machine did.

The winner was obvious; pretty evolutions in tight situations always earned you extra points. Katia and her Dragonite and Dawn and Anthony and Paul stood on stage, waving to the applauding audience and holding their ribbons proudly; well the former at least. Paul sensed a self-conscious and inept feeling in Dawn as she waved at the crowd with an absent minded expression. He could feel the same thing in Anthony, who had been the one beaten up. Neither of them said anything though.

There were fangirls at the obligatory party; even though their champion had lost, it was still awesome. They soon left because Dale was the only boy there and he and his five female friends ate, drank and played video games until late into the night. They woke up and it was the mutual feeling that it was time for them to part again. :C Dale and Megan gave everyone hugs and pancakes and pondered the existence of a platypus pokemon that was Dale's namesake. Anna, Justyna and Dawn were deciding where to go when their temporary member remembered that she had somewhere to be.

"I have to return to Johto! Duh!" she laughed to herself.

"Ma dad lives in Johto!" Justyna cheered.

"Are you going to walk all the way there?" Dawn asked, still a bit sour. Katia rolled her eyes with a smile and released Pyhalka as well as a togekiss that they had not yet met; Paul floated around her with interest.

"I'm going to Fly there of course!" She would do so on her togekiss; Pyhalka just wanted to stretch her new wings.

"You can Fly?" Justyna exclaimed in genuine shock. Anna flicked her in the forehead.

"Well, I have this." Katia showed them a large, bluish CD and the group expressed their desire for the rare object; it was not downloadable on Limewire. And they were more than surprised when Katia told them they could have it.

"I have my togekiss here who can already Fly. Plus I can always get more of them." Katia revealed a sneaky smile. They had no time to ask about it however, because she grabbed onto her owlish, white pokemon and she and her dragon flew off, laughing in an amusing, maniacal manner.

"Well. Now what?" Dawn asked grapely.

With Anna allowing Dawn a ride, Staraptor and Monty flew our heroes above the route they had once taken, filled with random music and aimed to set down one more time in Solaceon Town.


	37. Let it Snow

Passing high over the musical road, Dawn remarked at the tall, black tower that rose high above the trees, saying that they had never been in it.

"Well, I'll hold down the ford at Cody's and I'll let ya'll handle this death-ridden tower." Justyna announced in a lumbering voice and she and Monty dive-bombed into the open plains of Solaceon Town as Anna, Dawn, Staraptor and Paul touched down near the dark and foreboding tower.

The trek was lengthy but quick; the tower had only five floors but it was a trouble to get through it over all the headstones and skeletons. Anna wondered if they should go back but Dawn and her never-ending love for biology made them go on; perhaps there was a recently deceased body at the top that they could study. Paul guided them, as stone and bone stand in no way for a ghost. Obama was also out and sniffing about, as was Luxray, missing Light's company. Of course, they had to encounter some trainers hiding in the cemetarial rubble. Together, the two squashed them like beetles and roaches. Finally, they made it to the top, where they found not recently deceased but deceasing bodies. Two elderly woman stood pressed side-to-side together, silently. They didn't budge when Dawn called out to them so she and Anna crept slowly to them with Obama and Luxray ready to pounce if need be. There wasn't a need and even if there were.

The two ladies turned around so swiftly and cleanly, you'd blink and miss it. Luxray and Obama jumped back in fright and Anna and Dawn stopped in their tracks. Only Paul still cautiously floated forward. The elders gave them two large smiles and held out a large, flat, black stone on which lay a white CD. They didn't move or give any indication of dishonesty so Anna and Dawn stepped forward and took the items. The women simultaneously retracted their outstretched arms, bowed, and swiftly turned around. Anna and Dawn exchanged looks, thinking that was strange, and turned to leave. Their pokemon looked back and all but Paul were shocked to find that the women were gone, replaced by a bannette and mismagius.

They were there for perhaps two hours when they finally made their way downstairs and stepped outside the dark and musty tower to reveal a pure, clean, white world covered in snow. Dawn cried. Anna moaned. Obama and Luxray gasped. Paul went :/

They trudged through the blanket of snow as their feline pokemon jumped around the fluff in joy. Perhaps if their owners had thicker fur and a better balance for such a climate, they might enjoy it too. Paul joined their sulking, to make them feel better. They finally got to Cody's house where they saw several figures roughhousing in the front yard. Justyna and Riley were running around throwing snowballs at Cody and V, the latter was dodging quickly and assembling more ammunition. There were two giant black birds with Santa beards flying around the field, whipping the falling flakes all around. Justyna roared with hearty laughter and she and Cody waved the shivering sobs over. They inquired about their wanderings in the Tower of Death and things but Anna and Dawn refused to talk in the cold, so they all went inside, leaving their pokemon outside to play. Paul playfully avoided snowballs and flakes, but couldn't help but notice the awkward and unpleasant feel to the snow. Riley should have noticed it too, but he was having too much fun with V.

Inside, Anna and Dawn complained while Cody and Justyna defended the snowy snow. Eventually, they realized that that conversation was stupid. Instead, they talked about other things.

"OH! Monty evolved!" Justyna exclaimed, pointing outside at the big, Mafioso-esque bird. "You remember that duck stone I found in the Oreburgh mine right?"

"Why are there two honchkrow?" Dawn asked.

"Oh, that's Kirby." Cody said. He told them about his ditto and how he had though he was gum but realized after scraping him off his shoe that he, in fact, wasn't.

Anna and Dawn explained what went down in the Lost Tower and they all agreed that the weird old ladies were creepy. Dawn took the plate and CD out of her bag to show them. Cody immediately recognized that particular CD.

"That's an HM; Strength. I heard it was somewhere in that tower once but I never thought that anyone would actually go in there to look."

Anna eyed him suspiciously. "Why not?"

"It's haunted! It has ghosties and death traps in itself!"

Well, they thanked their lucky stars that they survived and Cody gave them a little present since it was the season of giving.

"I went back into the Ruins after you…ruined them, to look around and found this CD." Dawn knew what this one was, it was the HM Defog!

"Now we have the whole set!" Justyna exclaimed, "Joyeux Noel!"

"Oh yeah, when the hell did it start snowing?" Dawn growled.

"Well, we were just talking and then we looked outside and it was snowing." Cody said while half-hugging Justyna, "So…we don't know."

And then it was time for sleep. They called their pokemon inside and dried them off before the girls and their pokemon bedded in the large bedroom and made Cody sleep on the couch.

Anna and Dawn woke up and followed their noses to the kitchen, where there was a large array of waffles and eggs and sandwiches made for them. Justyna was already there eating and she whined, "Cody's gone." Unlike her, Anna and Dawn assumed he'd be back later and ate their breakfast. Those assumptions were later confirmed when they found a note reading:

Out milking. EAT. And I has a pocket watch :D

They did eat and after lazing around the house for a while waiting for him, Anna and Dawn decided to leave without a goodbye. They dragged Justyna out of there and continued on their 'merry' way through the snow. Anna and Dawn stopped by the only small, cottage industry, store in town and bought some large, warm winter wear. Justyna had her pink scarf, she had acquired a Santa hat, fancy snow boots, and mittens, so she went in and bought a blue, festive LITE jacket.

"Maybe you should wear something heavier." Dawn shivered.

"Wha? No, I'm fine. I love the cold!" And she went on exhibiting that love even though it was fairly chilly. But they trudged and skipped on through the town to its limits. There was the Daycare Center where an elderly man perpetually stood and watched the people go by. He called out to them as they were almost out of the settlement.

"Miss! I believe you've a pokemon in our care!"

"Do I?" Justyna asked; she did, and she knew so.

They came inside along with the man and asked his wife to bring out Silver, that long-forgotten ralts that Justyna had left there the last time they visited. The old women came out without the actual pokemon, but with a pokeball with it inside.

"Here he is. I should tell you that he evolved while you were gone. They usually don't; usually pokemon wait for their masters to decide whether they should evolve or not…" the elderly women warned Justyna as she handed her the pokeball.

"Well, I wanted him to evolve anyways!" Justyna missed that hinting concern in the woman's voice and skipped outside where there was more light and space. Anna and Dawn followed slowly, having heard the concern, but their warm coats made it rather difficult Justyna jumped and happy danced quickly before activating the pokeball and releasing the kirlia inside. The red light eminatating from the pokeball faded and the small pokemon opened his eyes and scanned its surroundings while standing, gracefully on his toes.

"Silver!" Justyna shouted in excitement, "You evolved! Oh goodness, you look so pretty! Now the time has come for awesome tr

Silver jumped at her so quickly, she couldn't finish. He slashed at her and cut the strap of her bag, which traversed her chest. The bag fell to the snow and Justyna fell backwards in it. The kirlia screeched an ear-splitting high note and jumped on top of her, poised to stab. Paul flew in and knocked the psychic pokemon over. Silver slashed at him furiously but alas, ghosts. Paul led him away so that Obama could be let out to incapacitate the kirlia. Anna grabbed Justyna's pokeball and returned Silver to it. After he was gone, all that was heard was heavy panting.

"What happened?" Justyna cried. Dawn started to explain.

"I don't think he likes you."

And she burst into tears and ran off south somewhere. Anna was about to follow her but Dawn told her to let her be. So they left town, knowing that Justyna would find them eventually. Heading north, they avoided the cowpoke trainers, who were shivering in the tall grass, burning their pitchforks for warmth. They soon got to a point where Anna stopped and pointed out something to Dawn. They were at the café again. The Mafia one. They could avoid it and go east but then they would end up in Veilstone again. They would go north but there was a platoon of psyducks guarding the passage; and they now knew whom they belonged to.

They were hopelessly stuck. But! Just as Dawn was about to explain a sinister plan, they saw a familiar, hoodie-donning, V-followed, figure lurking behind the café. Ducking under the windows, the two plus Paul, Obama, and Luxray crept behind the building and found the Cody.

"What are you doing here?" Dawn hissed.

"Stealing milk again?" Anna asked in a disappointed voice.

"No." Cody replied, confused, "You mean? No! Me and the Mafia worked out a deal."

He never explained what the deal was and he didn't need to. He didn't even wait for them to ask.

"Where's Justyna?" He asked with concern.

"She ran off; she'll be back later." Dawn waved him away but Cody made a sad face.

"Is there anything I can do?" He asked. Dawn was about to raise her waving hand again when Anna grabbed and restrained it.

"Yes, there is." Anna said in her monotone voice.

A while later, they were on the road again, thanks to part of Cody's help; it turns out that ties to the Mafia are very useful. Anna and Dawn huddled close in their heavy coats and walked awkwardly on; their thick coats could not mask their pessimistic hatred of the cold and it leaked in just to spite them. The huddled through the tall grasses, their thick-furred feline pokemon battled any opponents(this now included Kitty).

The road curved and bent and they waddled past tall waterfalls, now frozen by the sudden winter weather. They soon stopped short in their tracks as beyond the next hill, they could see trainers.

"It's too cold to battle, why are they even out there?" Dawn complained. They had a thought to turn back but it wasn't necessary either! Someone who was more than happy to battle showed up to deal with the problem at hand. Justyna came flying in on Monty, dive-bombing once again but making a soft landing in the plentiful snow. She appeared to be shaking, but didn't say anything to show it and her voice was steady.

"Found you guys!" She exclaimed, " You wandered off without me?"

"Well, yes." Dawn said without much issue. But most was forgiven; especially the part that made Justyna take off in the first place.

"Where's Silver? I left his pokeball with you guys right?" Anna nodded and told Justyna that the problem was solved. Not far away in the grandest of schemes, a Cody was sitting at home, his happiness to help a special someone shattered by a slash at the face from a very confuzzled and angry kirlia.

Justyna battled their problems away with new energy and ambition. Riley, Light, and the now humongous Monty shut their windows alright. Justyna wanted to throw them off the bridges that interconnected the waterfalls, but Anna and Dawn told her to curb her enthusiasm, so she just left them lying in the snow in SHAME.

That went on for the full day. Dawn guessed that they weren't far from the next town when it started to get dark. Although there was snow, it wasn't quite the season for it and the Sunset still came at seven o'clock. Justyna in her lite, comfortable coat led the penguin and the dirty snowman into the piney woods where cover allowed less snow to fall on them. They set up a tarp over themselves and made a little fire. It was warm but Anna and Dawn still left their coats and had their furry pokemon cuddle up with them for additional warmth. They were just about to nod off when Dawn shrieked, causing the snow to shake.

"There are eyes. And they're staring at me…." Dawn pointed into the dark woods and sho'enough, there were two clear white eyes with large purple irises and tiny dotted pupils; and they were staring. They weren't moving. But they were looking into everyone's eyes at the same time. Dawn moved in an out-of-character fashion and held out a leftover sandwich to the creature; it was like she wasn't herself. The creature leapt out of the trees and revealed itself to be a small, round bird, colourful too.

"It's a natu…" Dawn muttered as she watched the small bird eat. It finished the sandwich but didn't leave, just continued to stare nowhere but everywhere at once. Without a word or indication, Dawn took out a pokeball and gently tapped the natu with it. It flew into the pokeball and was immediately captured, without the usual twitching of the mechanism.

"I think I'll name her Kiwi." Dawn said absentmindedly.

"That's cute." Anna said, in her usual monotone.

They sat around for a while before, without word or indication, they all laid themselves to sleep.

Paul and the other furred and feathered pokemon, Obama, Kitty, Riley, Light, Monty, Lux and Star were out to keep their masters warm and they stared at them for a while, exchanging curious glances.

"What the hell was that?" Light whispered.

"I don't know…but those eyes were so alluring, I dared not look away." Obama agreed.

"I wouldn't say alluring..." Kitty shifted uncomfortably, "That sounds…intimate, and that was the least nice, least inviting look I've ever seen."

"She didn't have any aura to her." Riley said aloud, so he could hear just how strange the fact was.

"Well, she ain't a normal bird!" Monty snarled, "Er normal pokemon more like it! What the hell is she?"

They looked at each other with worry and distrust before they lay down to sleep. Paul didn't sleep much and watched over the camp. He could sense most of the nearby surroundings, but even he was startled when he turned and saw the little natu perched by him, staring up at the moon. She was silent and didn't look at him, and just as he had gotten used to her presence, she said in a quiet but swift voice.

"My flock is flying south right now. To the warmer climates. We did not expect this."

Paul nodded his head faintly. "Why aren't you with them?"

"We natu don't stay together for long. We have creatures to warn, events to foresee, and we can't do that together."

"This weather is unusual. My flock agreed, but they didn't know what to think about it. I do. I saw you down below. I saw you in the future. I must guide us there." Kiwi said in a soft, naïve, serious voice.

Paul looked at her and stared up at the moon. He couldn't sense any feeling or aura about her. But he trusted her immediately because he had felt it as well. She was right.

**There are probably mistakes…but screw it, this chapter is finally done!**


	38. RESPECT

It was just gone like that; all the snow had melted. Anna and Dawn just sorta shrugged, but Justyna gasped and scolded them for it.

"Now the ground is all soggy and dirty!" Justyna complained, "Winter isn't winter without snow!" :C

"That's because it's October." Dawn said as she helped pack up camp.

They bundled up, since the chilliness lingered, and kept walking with Kiwi, Light, Paul and Kisa about. Because Kisa was a ground type, nor rain nor snow could harm her; Anna knew and was proud of her strategizing skillz. Light stared at Kiwi as she sat on top of Dawn's head, not looking comfortable or uncomfortable.

They made it to the top of a rolling hill and saw a rather small settlement surrounding a little dent of valley; down below, there was a small shrine as well as the makings of a cave entrance. Dawn informed them that this was Celestic Town and that it apparently contained Ruins. After their little excursions in the Solaceon ones and that Tower thing, none of the girls were especially keen to go exploring. They headed to the Pokemon Center. And they ran into a familiar face.

"Cynthia! Is that yer name?" Justyna was only good with faces.

"Yes, yes, and you all are?" Cynthia sucked at both. Or perhaps it was just because she was in a hurry.

"We met in Eterna City; do you remember?" Anna asked. Cynthia quickly flipped through her memory and seemed to recall a little something about them.

"Oh yeah…then…" Cynthia stood around out of politeness before cutting to the chase. "Do you need something?"

"Er, we just came into town," Dawn said, "Heading to the Pokemon Center, maybe the Pokemart too."

"Oh, there is no Mart in Celestic Town." Cynthia told her, "My grandparents own a store here though that sells herbal medicine; you can buy stuff there and stay if you're tired. Just tell my grandparents you know me, now I really must go."

The tall, black-clothed lady pulled out a pokeball and mounted an elegant togekiss. Of course, they asked what was wrong.

"Did you see all the snow we had yesterday? And now it's all suddenly gone?" She said no more and flew off. Just gave Dawn and Anna an I-totally-told-you-guys-so look.

They did as their acquaintance kindly offered and visited her folks right after a quick spruce-up at the Pokemon Center. They bought some of their herbal medicine, just to be nice. None of their pokemon wanted the stuff except for Kiwi, who pecked at it methodically, drawing more attention to herself. Light regarded that she was a bit screwed up if she liked something so incredibly bitter; not even tomato juice could make it better. Paul vouched for her, trying some of the medicine and swallowing it after much internal conflict.

They even listened to the old geezers chat for a while over tea. They talked about the golden days of yore and how it was all better when the Union was still in power. Paul and now Riley were listening with intrigue. Kiwi was listening as well but from the look of her, she was staring off into space as well. Obama, Light, Lux and Kitty were conversing over bowls of milk over the little oddity; Paul had to float over and shush their rude behaviour. Eventually, the oldies got on the topic of rocks.

"Yea know, there's these ruins down in the quarry. Their fantastic, yea know? They have beautiful intricate hieroglyphs and pictures. Would you kids like to see them? We were just going to see them again today before you walked in." The old grandpa mumbled with a kind, old smile.

"We don't like ruins. They can get you seriously lost." Anna and Justyna had wanted to be more polite, but Dawn just flat out said it.

"Oh." See Dawn? Now you made the old guy sad!

The girls agreed to escort the old couple to the ruins and then go off on their own. They did so, still peering into the cave curiously despite their apparent disdain in exploring it. They waved good-bye to the oldies and were off, Paul, Light, and Kiwi on hand. They wondered what to do in such a hick, little town, deciding that there was nothing really to do.

"Should we just leave without helping those old people back home?" Anna asked.

"Sure, they can find their way to their house." Dawn waved the question away and they left town, wandering west until the mountain that had loomed over the town was staring them in the face. There was a spiraling path that led upwards for a bit and ended with a cave. Anna, Dawn, and Justyna sighed in unison but there was no other way to go. Anna realized Kisa and they prepared to ride her through the treacherous cave when suddenly….

"Kiwi!" Dawn cried. The little bird had jumped off her head and was hopping down the rocks.

"Get her Light!" Justyna ordered. The jolteon leaped forward and bounded after the green, spherical bird; she was pretty fast for having such an unfortunate anatomy. Light caught up to her, pounced to pin her in her place and Kiwi disappeared with the blink of an eye. Light looked around after realizing this, expecting her to jump out and attack him. Paul realized what had happened and flew past the paranoid jolteon, back to Celestic Town.

Dawn correctly assumed that Kiwi had teleported away; she was psychic. And if that was so, then Paul might be able to track her down. Kisa jumped down the rocks as well, less than gracefully I might add. She trotted back to town with Light running along side them. They followed Paul back to Town where he swooped down into the quarry and flew into the Celestic Ruins. Light was able to carefully leap down into the small valley and waited for Kisa to clumsily slide down the hillside. The torterra ran to the cave entrance, the girls jumped off and followed Light following Paul tracking Kiwi inside.

"Arrg! My back!" cried an old, shaky, voice in despair.

The old man and his wife were backed up against the end of the cave, which was a wall that curved into a high ceiling covered in paintings of stars and pokemon. There was a woman with a short, turquoise haircut standing in front of them but she was facing to the side, battling a small, green, hopping bird with her zubat.

"Get it Zuzy!" the spacewoman cried, "Catch it so we can take it back to Vei-" She stopped short when she noticed our heroes. That one lapse in attention was also enough time for Kiwi to jump on her and start Pecking her head. Paul disposed of the zubat with a Shadow Ball and encircled the trainer, being sinister and all.

"What do you think you're doing?" Justyna demanded. The woman froze in her place, examining the three determined girls, the snarling, green jolteon, and the ghost and bird that cornered her. Dawn repeated Justyna's question but the woman kept still and silent until a loud explosion snapped them all out of it. It came from above(!) so they all ducked, incapable of action. There was a gaping hole in the ceiling and through it could be seen a helicopter. A rope ladder quickly dropped down and the woman grabbed it and was lifted out. Light used Thunder but it just missed her; Kiwi couldn't fly and Paul couldn't leave his trainer.

The kicked-up dust settled and Justyna and Anna rushed over to the oldies, who were still huddling in the corner. They were okay but the man's back had started aching and he needed his medication. Dawn went over to pick up Kiwi and she and Paul observed the little zubat get up and realize its owner had left it behind. It had a bruised wing but it still fluttered out of the cave, right through that gaping hole that was seriously stressing out the grandmother. The girls escorted the couple back to their home and made them their tea.

"Those ruins…were several millennia old…" The grandmother was in shock. Justyna gritted her teeth at this archeological catastrophe.

"More importantly, are you okay?" Anna asked. She felt that they were responsible after Cynthia had off-handedly told them to visit her folks.

"Did that woman hurt you?" Dawn inquired.

"No…" the old man replied with a shaky voice, "She came in after you had been gone for a while and was looking around. Then she started to ask what the cave writings said, and we told her about it: the creation of the world, the three dragon gods, the egg of life. But she wanted to know more."

"There's more?"

"Yes…there…are…um." The old man's voice faded. After a while he added, "There was something else that she wanted to know."

"What?" Dawn asked.

"I…don't know. Er, I can't remember. I remember that I told her, but what I couldn't tell you." The grandfather scratched his head. This was going to be killing him for the next several minutes.

"So nothing happened." Dawn concluded.

"Well, I wouldn't say that." The grandmother perked up. "That woman was being very disrespectful to the ruins. She didn't care about them at all! And when we were telling her the tales written on the walls, I could see she was getting impatient. I was worried she might hurt us. But your little bird there sure helped us out."

The old woman smiled at Kiwi who didn't smile back, but looked at the woman deeply, conveying that she had been grateful to help.

"We thank all of you." The old man smiled too. "We sometimes give these out to outstanding trainers; I think you've more than earned it!" The old man handed them a blue CD that was a convenient HM Surf. Both sides were more than thankful and after some more tea, they hugged good-bye and went on.

Kiwi still sat on top of Dawn's head as she and Justyna and Anna rode Kisa back up to Mt. Coronet. Light, the other felines, and most of the girls' other pokemon were about and about, learning about what Kiwi did. :3

They let them their pokemon explore the cave, since Anna, Dawn, and Justyna had no interest in doing so. The cave started to look a bit familiar; it let out just outside of Eterna City. That wasn't possible! There must be another way. Indeed there was. Kiwi disappeared and Obama found her perched on top of a suspicious rock. They couldn't move it but little Cranidos was happy to smash it with all of her might.

There was a long stretch of lake on the other side, which their water pokemon enjoyed immensely. After an hour of fooling around, they continued through the cave, looking around for any items that might be hidden around(there always were in caves). Soon, the cave grew chilly, chillier than before, and Anna and Dawn put on their snow-coats, the only thing warm enough for them. Justyna donned her blue, awesome sweater and wrapped her pink scarf a bit tighter. The cave grew progressively more cold until they found an exit that blinded them and covered the cave in pure white light.

"More fucking snow." Dawn muttered.

Well, it was a good thing that they were already dressed for the occasion. Anna and Dawn waddled through the snow while Justyna skipped ahead. Most of their pokemon had withdrawn into their balls, all except for Paul. Nothing could stop the man. Their pokemon only reemerged for battles, which dotted their path. Makowca and Piotr got a bit of a work out, as well as Anthony, although this climate was difficult for him.

Evening was in full blast when they spotted a bright, little cottage nestled between the pines. Anna and Dawn rushed inside while Justyna walked slowly, admiring amid the falling snow. The house was a Rest house for weary travelers and the three were more than welcomed inside. The place was packed to the brim though, and they had to stay in a little corner. At least it was by the fire and they could defrost a tiny bit.

The next morning could come no sooner. Justyna was up and ready first and dragged Dawn and Anna out of their sleep and into the fresh snow that had fallen and kept on falling. Although DA hated it, they were both too sleepy to complain; they had warm coats.

"Now that's no fun!" Justyna exclaimed with a shudder. "The cold wakes me up! Ain't it the same for you too?"

"No." Anna replied. "And I don't want to be awake anyway…" She and Dawn grumbled as they struggled up north. The wind was against them, blowing more despicable snow in their arceus-damned faces.

The enjoyably soft snowfall quickly mutated into a powerful blizzard, slashing at out heroes with all its might. Paul hid within Dawn's soft coat, which managed to be a good buffer against the cold.

"Come on, you guys! I see someone up ahead!" Oh lord, a battle. Justyna handled it once again but even Makowca was reluctant to stay out any longer than she needed to.

"We should have stayed at the Resthouse, you idiot!" Anna shouted over the roar of the blizzard.

"I can't hear you! There's another trainer on skis!" Justyna screamed back. Justyna was also tapping wildly at her Poketech. "I forgot this thing had an itemfinder!"

Justyna ran off in the other direction, intent on finding the many things dropped carelessly in the wake of the snowstorm; who knows what she'll find?

Anna and Dawn battled the chick on skis quickly with Luxray and Paul, who quickly retreated into their pokeballs just as Justyna returned with her hands full of stuff.

"Look at all this shit! People lost of all it in the blizzard! Muahahahaha!" Justyna sniffled, "Now it's mine!"

The wind was getting especially bad now; it was like being bitch-slapped by the weather. Dawn and Anna were constantly screaming for shelter but they were but a dull roar in these conditions and there was no shelter to be found in either direction. Anna was seriously considering just falling over when Justyna's normal speaking voice reached her through the snarls and howls of the blizzard.

"I SEE A CABIN OVER THAR. DO YOU GUYS WANT TO CHECK IT OUT."

Anna and Dawn rushed to the square, shadowy outline of a cottage as soon as it was revealed through the whipping river of precipitation. They didn't even politely knock; their desire for warmth made them strong enough to bust through the door and slam it in the snow's face. They threw off their coats and ran to the fireplace while was lit and stable, even though there was no one in the house but them.

The door flew open and shut.

"Thanks for frickin' leaving me out there." Justyna said grumpily. She stomped over and sat in front of the fire, sniffling.

"Didn't I tell you it was cold?" Anna said in an I-totally-told-you-so voice. Justyna rolled her eyes and wiped her nose.

"Does anyone live here?" Dawn asked. Apparently not. At least…not apparent to the humanz eyes.

Paul yawned and leisurely spun in a circle, doing a double take when a familiar face passed him by. A little girl in an oversized, red coat lined with white fur sat in the chair that was placed in the middle of the room and looked at them. She was impossible to not notice immediately, so the only explanation must be that she is a ghost. The little girl looked around the small but cozy house, admiring it and smiling at Paul. He nodded in gratitude, wondering how she got so far north and why. As if she could read his thoughts, the little girl shrugged. She looked past Paul with a concerned face. She was eyeing Justyna, who was very pale and trying to hide her shivering. Paul watched her for a while before turning to the little girl for advice. But she was gone.

"Egg!" Justyna screamed.

"Jesus…" Dawn said, rubbing her ear. "What egg?"

"The egg that Cody and I made!" Justyna paused, "With Light and his ditto." She laughed to herself and pulled out a large, lite blue egg from her bag.

"It's gonna be an eevee! I want it to be a glaceon! They're so beautiful!" She huggled the egg gently. Anna reached over and touched it. She immediately recoiled.

"It's freezing!" Anna hissed.

"Well, it is close to hatching." Justyna said. They say sickness can drive a man insane.

"Glaceon can only evolve around a certain rock right? An Ice Rock or whatever, right Dawn?"

"Something like that."

"It's gotta be around here somewhere!" Justyna sang. She replaced the egg with the empty space in her bag and got up. She released Makowca and headed for the door.

"You're going to go find it? NOW?" Dawn seriously asked.

"We're going to sleep." Anna yawned.

"I'll be back in a few. I think I saw it on the way here." Justyna smiled. She dragged Makowca out into the whipping wind and shut the door.

Anna and Dawn both thought that that was incredibly stupid, but they were used to it, and thought that it couldn't bring as much harm as a cough or sneeze. They let the fireplace keep burning, knowing Paul would make sure it didn't misbehave, and then fell asleep.

An hour passed. Paul looked around the house in boredom and noticed how especially chilly it had gotten. The fire was dying down and the room was dim. His senses were dim too. It was so cold and he was so out of it, he disregarded the knocks on the door until the door was completely knocked down and snow and freezing spilled into the room. Dawn and Anna were immediately shocked into consciousness and looked around angrily for the culprit. Makowca leaped towards them, shuttering and jutting back and forth. She bit down on Anna's arm rather firmly and pulled her towards the door. Dawn and Anna managed to rip the latter's arm free and scolded the typhlosion for dragging them out of their slumber.

"Justyna! What's wrong with Makowca?" Anna called out in a drowsy whine. There was no answer. 0_0

Makowca jumped outside into the cold snow that she despised so much and pleaded that Anna and Dawn do the same. They hastily pulled on their coats, cursing when the zipper got stuck or when they couldn't find their fucking hats. Makowca barked at them with increasing frustration. They finally had shambled into their coats. Makowca leaped ahead and for once, Anna and Dawn didn't annoyingly waddle thorough the snow. They also jumped and lunged through the blanket of white stuff, kicking it away in anger and ignoring the cold that penetrated their coats.

Makowca led them into a grassy area that was devastated by the cold. Anna and Dawn brushed through the dry, withering brown and green grass, following no more than a foot behind Makowca. She led them to the center of the field, where a large rock made of solid ice stood like a completed sculpture of raw, natural beauty. Justyna lay, curled up, against it with several broken fragments of a blue shell, out of which spilled a scrawny and hairless baby pachirisu.

**I know the grammar and general English must suck…but I am done with the chapter. And I like it.**


	39. Snowpoint is Snow Fun

"Oh no…"

"Oh GOD, oh no!"

Cringing, Anna pushed the frozen pachirisu away and she and Dawn gathered around Justyna, looking for a way to pick her up; she was completely unconscious. Makowca slithered under her master's body and followed them as they ran back to the small, cozy cabin with Paul leading the way through the increasingly harsh blizzard. They followed him blindly and were surprised when he suddenly stopped and stayed hovering over a small pile of their bags. There was a house here. It's gone now.

Dawn swore up and down, cursing the cold, the house, and Justyna for going out into the cold.

"What the fuck do we do now?" she screamed over the wind. Anna looked at her, at Paul, and then at Justyna.

"There has to be a town around here! There has to be!"

"Yeah, Snowpoint City is somewhere up north, but I have no idea where to go in this weather!"

"It's the only shot we have! It can't be too far, we've been traveling all day!" Anna shouted. She didn't quite believe the words herself, but she didn't believe they had much of a choice at the moment. Anna released Kisa, hoping that she could last in the icy weather long enough to carry Justyna there; Makowca was already tired and freezing, but she couldn't return to her pokeball with her master unconscious. The irritable typhlosion spit fire as often as she could manage in order to spread some warmth and melt some of the snow in their way. Dawn had the vague idea that Snowpoint was straight through the blizzard beside a lake; they had to quickly reorient themselves and push forward. Makowca plomped through the snow, helping clear the way as best as she could; Paul wandered ahead, looking for any hints of human emotion to guide them to civilization; and Kisa, Dawn, and Anna carried their fallen friend behind them.

It felt like the blizzard was eternal; in their desperate rush and anguish, every whip of the wind felt like it was sending them back a mile and that every snowflake could make Justyna's state worse. It felt as if they had been traveling for an hour when Makowca's flame gave out and she had to make do with simply pushing and spreading the snow around in order to clear it; Dawn and Anna sent out Kitty, Obama, Luxray and hardy Cranidos to help her. The pokemon were immediately made clear of the situation and worked and ran with all their will through the compounding layers of snow. Paul was very far ahead of them, searching constantly for some sort of landmark that he could lead them too. He wandered far away, following a trend of decreasing snowfall. The shuppet flew out into a snowy woodland area where the precipitation was lighter and the sky was visibly black and full of late stars. The shuppet scanned the area around him, immediately picking up a strong, emoting energy. He quickly flew after it and found himself floating over a huge, icy lake. The energy was coming from the very center of the lake. He knew that it was not possible for it to be the town and inhabitants, but he recalled his master talking about a lake and floated back to Dawn at top speed.

Paul circled his owner a few times and flew over the snow-shoveling pokemon, looking back and beckoning them forward. They trusted in and followed Paul through the snow until they punched through the wall of heavy, sharp snow and fell into a sparse forest being covered by light snowfall. Paul guided them to the path that led to the lake; it was a trail that spiraled upward over a tall hill. Dawn recognized from her manual that this wasn't the entrance to the town.

"Is the lake up there?" she asked her shuppet. Paul nodded and spun around in affirmation.

"Then the town in somewhere east. The lake is north so we have to go this way!" Dawn leapt forward through the snow to meet up with Paul. Her other pokemon joined her and they all advanced as a wave, clearing the way and guiding Anna and the ailing Justyna.

Before their destination, a blast of arctic air hit them once more and they were blinded. Dawn blinked her eyes into focus and heard the sound of waves overlapping and falling against rock. They were in the empty dock of a small harbour where there was one sandy brown dingy tied to a post. Paul shupped and flew toward a small but bright light source coming from across the area. They ran forward and finally found a house.

Makowca ran to the front and pushed open the door, breaking the lock. All the other small pokemon came inside; Kisa stopped in front of the door where Anna and Dawn pulled Justyna off and brought her inside, putting her on the sofa. Anna recalled Kisa and slammed the door shut, breathing heavily but with relief. Then she noticed a short, blond-haired girl with a big, warm hoothoot sweater standing in the corner with a cup of hot cocoa shaking in her hands. There was also a snarling zangoose eyeing their pokemon and an angry, little turtwig standing on the countertop.

"What are you people doing in my house?" the girl asked in a shaky but more confused voice.

"We're so sorry." Anna panted, "But our friend is really sick, we needed to get her someplace warm." She pointed at the Justyna laying face down on the sofa. Makowca dragged over a nearby blanket and sloppily threw in over her.

"I guess that's an adequate excuse." The girl responded. She told them to wait as she went into another room and came out with a doctor's kit and called her zangoose named Z and her turtwig named Dirk. They flipped Justyna on her back; she was very pale, breathing quickly and shaking like a frozen leaf in the howling wind. The girl took her temperature and leaned in to listen to her breathing.

"She has pneumonia." She concluded, "How long was she out in the cold?"

"A while." Anna said seriously, "She's not going to die is she?" :C

"I don't think so. Though you probably got her here in the nick of time. Thankfully, I am a doctor. Doctor Jennifer Fukurappa."

The doctor, with a hint of caution, let Dawn and Anna sleep in her room, as Justyna had to be quarantined in the living room. The girls helped her make breakfast the next morning and ate as she looked over Justyna again.

"Yea, I'd say she'll be fine. But she'll have to stay put for a week or so."

"A week?" Dawn exclaimed. They were on a time schedule!

"Yeah."

Anna soon picked up a on the fact that Jenn wanted them out of the house and she dragged Dawn outside. It was the afternoon and the snow had subsided for now and it was a very bright, white day. It soon bored them.

"It's like Solaceon Town: there's nothing to do." Dawn whined.

Well, there was a Pokemon Center, which didn't have any heating. There was also a snowy temple up north, which was closed off. There were several other houses dotting the small town; they were also frigid inside. All that was left was…the Gym, which was ice-themed and was also very cold on the inside.

"I guess this is all we can do." Anna was about to step inside when she recalled that there was only one other person with her, and not the one that she usually did her gym battles with.

They went back to Jenn's house, hoping that Justyna might have woken up. She just barely had and Jenn was making her eat some delicious soup.

"What happened?" she rasped.

"You're sick. Now shut up and drink this soup." Justyna dumbly nodded and continued eating. Makowca was still out of her pokeball and was lazily pacing the room with Z, talking about doors and keys.

"This town is pretty small; we looked around and there's nothing much to do."

"Isn't there a gym here?" Justyna asked sleepily.

"Yep. An Ice gym because it's so freaking COLD up here." Jenn hissed under her breath. The other's were taken aback but didn't say anything further.

"Right, but I can't go in there without you." Anna said softly. You could almost hear the sentimental music playing in the background.

Justyna coughed and then dramatically turned to Dawn with a very serious expression. "You must do it."

"Wha? Me?"

"Yes. You're the only one who can open the gates to hell and save the rainforest." Justyna blurted out the second sentence, her voice radically changing in volume. Jenn managed to put her down when the patient started to preach about deserts and the black horses that they yield in the winds. Justyna was sleeping when Dawn finally decided that she had a point…somewhere in there. Anna warned her it would be dangerous but Dawn already knew. And she was ready to kick ass.

It was the next morning. The snow had fallen again whilst they slept and left 20 inches of snow. The girls pulled on their snow boots and snow socks and waded through the snow towards the gym, located in the center of town.

"You know? I just realized." Anna said aloud after rummaging through her pockets.

"What's that?" Dawn asked.

"I'm all out of gum."

The gym was no colder than outside, so it was rather difficult to navigate through the gym in those heavy coats. But they had to if they were going to help all the little fairies and fruit bats as Justyna had foretold them. As standard, the gym was packed with trainers releasing their frozen wrath upon them with snovers and snorunts of similar sort. Anna fought with Cranidos and Piotr. The two were small, but they had the type advantage. Dawn didn't have any pokemon that were particularly effective against Ice-types. If fact, most of her pokemon were weak against them. She decided to go with her two strongest fighters, which were Obama and Anthony. The gabite had a difficult time, but alongside Piotr, he held out.

After navigating through the stupid boulders for an hour or so, Anna and Dawn finally managed to crawl up the platform atop which stood Candice, the Ice Gym Leader. Get it?

"AH! Challengers! After so long!" The young woman jumped up in joy and slid down the ice all the way down to the bottom of the platform.

"NOOO! Get back up here!" Dawn screeched, steaming from the cold, the complexity and the COLD.

Candice laughed and let out a large, docile-looking Piloswine. The pig-pokemon snorted loudly and in on swift movement, climbed all the way back up. Candice jumped off and beamed with pride.

"Awesome huh?"

"Piloswine can't learn Rock Climb." Dawn scowled.

"Perfect, perfect! Challengers have come to save the toucans!" Candice spun around in a happy circle and assumed their double battle. Her piloswine took his place while she let out a swift, little sneasel. Anna and Dawn sent out Cranidos and Obama. The choices didn't make much sense but they didn't have to.

Piloswine charged at them but the two small pokemon leaped out of the way. The swifter Obama dashed after Sneasel who dodged in quick, little baby jumps. Piloswine focused on Cranidos. He charged at her again with a deadly Take Down but the rambunctious Cranidos was able to stand her ground and stop him in his tracks. Cranidos held onto Piloswine and used Rock Smash, lifting up the pokemon and throwing him into the ground. While the pig was stunned, she sat down to recover her energy. Obama and Sneasel were endlessly dodging and it was now simply a battle of endurance. Of course, Obama outlasted the sneasel and looped around him and devastated him with a barrage of Quick Attacks. Sneasel was called back.

Piloswine was just shaking off his fatigue and turning to face Cranidos when Obama leaped on him from behind and held onto him with Bite. The piloswine shook violently, trying to fling him off like a wild stallion would. Obama bit down harder and wouldn't let go. He was about to be ripped off of the flailing pig when Piloswine was firmly grabbed and lifted into the air. Everyone gasped in schlock. Except for Paul. Rampardos threw the piloswine across the platform, almost off of it. Obama leaped off of him and ran and hid in the dinosaur's shadow. Rampardos stomped towards him, let out a loud, triumphant roar and used Ancient Power, effectively annihilating Piloswine. Candice eyed them with a smug, calculating expression and recalled her pokemon. She smiled sinisterly and threw out two more pokemon. Who knew she actually had four? 0_0

An elegant froslass and a large, angry abomasnow took the stage. Rampardos and Obama shared a mutual glance and attacked their new opponents. Newly evolved, Rampardos charged at Abomasnow with full confidence, only to have him dodge and have her run into the wall. Anna would soon recall her. Obama attacked Froslass, Biting determinately but with little actual damage; he was now exhausted from his little dance with the Sneasel and had trouble keeping up with the sly and slippery ghost. Dawn returned him to his pokeball as well.

Anna sent out her charmeleon next, knowing he would have a good advantage against the snow tree. Paul floated close near his master as she decided whom to send out next. He himself was reluctant to battle especially against another female ghost. Kitty and Valour were much too small and childish. Obama was exhausted; Kiwi would be doomed as a bird. Anthony held some actual power but again, he was a dragon and a ground type…

Dawn decided she had to try. Try for Justyna and all the eucalyptus trees. The pokeball seemed to float endlessly in the air when Dawn threw it and released her dragon shark, Anthony. Candice laughed semi-evilly and commanded her pokemon. Froslass slithered quickly towards Anthony and flew into the path of Piotr's Ember. Distracted, Piotr leaped at her with Fire Fang and they fell off into a scuffle. The big, hurly Abomasnow looked down on Anthony. The gabite stood with determination with no hint of insecurity as the monster swung its arm and sent him flying with Wood Hammer. Anthony almost fell of the platform but managed to hang on and pull himself up, dashing at the approaching enemy. Anthony jumped and attacked with Dragon Claw. Abomasnow recoiled but not for long and swung again with another Wood Hammer attack. Anthony was knocked away again. It took a bit of time for the gabite to get up since the floor was slippery and his anatomy awkward. When he finally did, Abomasnow slammed into him again and threw him against the wall. Anthony smashed into the ice wall but managed to slide down and land on his feet. The abominable pokemon was already charging at him again.

The shark pokemon found his balance and lowered his body is preparence to charge as well. He shut his eyes in blind perseverance and began to run as hard and fast as he could manage, rushing towards the screeches of the abomasnow. He leaped and yelled but the impact was much less earth-shattering than the gabite expected. When he opened his eyes, Abomasnow was beneath his feet and very far away. The gabite felt taller, heavier and stronger.

"That was so AWESOME!" Candice jumped into the air and did a twirl just like an ice skater would. Her froslass glided over to catch her.

"Did you see that, Lacey? He started running…and then he got all glowy and became HUGE!" Candice skipped around and made wide gestures with each description. "And then, BOOOOOOOM! He hit Ratzenberg straight on with Dragon Rush! That was amAzing!"

Dawn's jaw had fallen to the floor. Paul couldn't pick it up because his had too. He normally could expect something like this because the mentality of the pokemon usually perceives and eases into the notion of evolution. This had come almost completely out of nowhere. So yeah: wow.

Anthony stumbled off of Abomasnow and fell on his back and slid over to his trainer, looking up in confusion. Piotr's opponent had left him so he skated back to Anna, who picked him up and gave him a big hug. Dawn remembered the days when Anthony was that small. But that thought was interrupted when Candice jumped into her face.

"That was spectacular! And now for you! An Icicle Badge hurray!" Candice spun around in a continuous circle with her Froslass whilst Anna got dizzy.

"Wait. Piotr didn't finish his fight with your froslass." Anna mumbled.

"It's fine! She was losing anyway!" Lacey stopped spinning and glared at Candice.

Still getting used to the new body, Anthony stayed out, even in the snow, which he actually enjoyed when it wasn't blizzarding. He jumped and fell into it, causing the earth to shake. Dawn called him back and decided to climb on his back and ride on him.

"It's like Kisa but taller." Paul nodded.

Anna was gonna say something, when her cellphone started to ring. Now who could be calling her; well, she checked her caller ID. It was just her friend Brad, calling for the first time in forever! Anna answered the phone with a monotone 'what?'

"Professor Rowan wants the three of you to meet us in Canavale City."


	40. The Fortieth Chapter

Anna and Dawn shared a knowing glance and ran off to Jenn's home. They burst through the front door to see Justyna asleep and Jenn knitting together a blue stuffed animal in an armchair. She looked up to acknowledge them. Anna and Dawn hastily explained that they had to leave Justyna in her care. Jenn sighed and went back to knitting and promised she would make sure Justyna didn't freak out when she woke up and they weren't there. And with that, Anna sent out her faithful Staraptor and she and Dawn boarded. Paul flew alongside the raptor and they flew south south south.

They were flying over Jubilee City, Anna's Staraptor started to land when Dawn interrupted her.

"Canavale City is over there, past the strait."

"I know, but we've never been there before." Anna said.

"So?" Dawn asked. Her look made Anna suddenly realize that she was being stupid, and she told Staraptor to pull up and continue over to the actual city. The bird landed by the Pokemon Center, just a few squares away from the library, where Brad asked them to meet him and Professor Rowan. Dawn was already to go when Anna pointed out that there was a Gym in this here town as well.

"So? We'll come back later with Justyna and you'll face them." Dawn responded.

"We don't have the time to come back here a SECOND time!" Anna said in a monotone voice and flailing her hands.

"But what about Brad?"

"He'll still be there when we get around to going to the library." Anna said. Now it was her time to work around the rules. She also decided that the boat that was parked in the harbour was prime for investigation. The boat owner sailor man offered to give them a free sail on over to Iron Island. Taking advantage of a service with no obvious charge, they took it.

It took 10 seconds to get to the island and Anna and Dawn stepped off the boat to find out, to their dismay, that the island was not made of iron. But it was still worth checking out. They STALKED through the bowels of the caves, fighting any being that they encountered. Paul enjoyed the darkness.

That was an uneventful experience. They left the island, only to notice an angry-looking boy with glasses and shaggy hair running after screaming, "I told you I'd return! Get back here and fight me you dancing freaks!" Everyone was flummoxed.

THEY WERE NOW READY FOR THE 7TH GYM BATTLE.

Dawn once again stood in place for the sadly absent Justyna. She and Paul eyed the gym suspiciously as the conspicuously made it through the multi-layer elevator maze, which was despicably tedious. The trainers fell before the mighty hooves of Anna's Piotr and Dawn's totally-packin' Anthony.

To make a long story, thankfully short and lazy, Anna and Dawn beat Bryon, Canavale's Steel-usin' Gym Leader, with little to no effort at all. They assumed that it was because Justyna was not there. The girls slowly exited the Gym. The slowly strolled the streets in this city know for its ONE canal to the Pokemon Center. There they waited in a LONG line, waiting to get their pokemon healed. They then went to the PokeMart, because you can never have enough mail. THEN, ONLY THEN, did Anna and Dawn go to the Library, where Brad and Professor Rowan were undoubtedly impatiently waiting for them. Of course, they made sure to talk to every last solitary person in the library before ascending to the top, where their acquaintances were seated.

Brad was obviously frustrated.

"Took you long enough." Rowan smacked him on the head with a newspaper.

"Boy! Mind your manners around these ladies."

"Yeah Brad, mind your manners." Oh Arceus: Tyler was there too. And Christian also.

"Where's Justyna?" the gay man whined.

"Sick, now what's this all about?" Dawn demanded.

They all sat down at the table. Anna noticed that along with Dawn's shuppet and Brad's very obvious absol(named Hekate), were Tyler's Reepy the Mareep and Christian's now evolved Riku(the Leafeon). The three boy's pokemon exchanged knowing glances pertaining to Paul, who was obviously looking away anxiously at the window. His eyes seemed to be getting bigger and bigger with each passing moment, as if expecting something.

"While we were visiting Hoenn and Kanto - yes Anna, Kanto – we had several run-ins with the police." Rowan began.

"We did nothing illegal!" Christian blurted out.

"As a traveler and a Pokemon Professor, I have a duty to know what's going on. Those regions had been having massive increases in crimes as of late. Mostly from Team Rocket, based in Kanto."

"The police had evidence that these Teams have been reporting to Team Galactic, here. Meaning…that Team Galactic is more of a threat than we may think!" Brad said, saying that last part very dramatically.

"No way." Tyler said sarcastically, "I had no idea from that time that they almost pokenapped Reepy!" Reepy let out a sleepy but agreeing baaaa.

"So? What do they do?" Anna asked.

"Team Rocket mostly just steals pokemon from trainers. Team Magma and Aqua in Hoenn have apparently turned that way too. And all three of these teams have been sending pokemon to Sinnoh to Team Galactic." Rowan said gravely.

"But why?" Dawn asked. Nobody noticed yet that Paul's eyes were huge, unblinking and that he was hyperventilating. Reepy nudged Tyler.

"We don't know, but we were thinking that we could make a small group to sneak into the Veilstone Building and find out. It can't be just a harmless Pizza Place like Team Galactic says!" Christian said.

"They told me it was an Orphanage for little girls." Tyler said, "Which is sad: children should be allowed to run free. Um, Dawn? Is Paul okay?"

Everyone's attention turned to the little shuppet, who was still staring at the window in utter fear and anticipation. Then the world just about exploded. The ground gave a massive shake as if it had just jumped up into the air. The shaking had not even begun to settle when two more lurchings of the ground happened. Bookshelves toppled over like dominos and all the books fell out of them, bouncing and throwing themselves everywhere.

Just as soon as the six trainers had hidden under the table, the ground suddenly stilled. They emerged and looked outside; everything was fine.

"What the hell just happened?" Rowan cursed in shock.

The stairway was blocked. Anna let out her Rampardos just as Brad let out a newly-obtained Aggron. They both threw the fell bookcases to the other side of the room so that their trainers could descend. They did that at the next stairway too, freeing trapped book-worms along the way. The group emerged into the bright sun and into a large crowd that had gathered.

"What's happened?"

"What was that!"

"It's like a bomb went off! But nothing's destroyed!"

"NO! Three bombs! The three lakes have just been exploded by spacemen!"


	41. Brutality!

The children were shocked and joined the crowd in broad panic and disorientation. Professor Rowan grimaced and gave a loud angry shout. The whole crowd fell silent even though it was only meant to catch the attention of the three boys and two girls.

"Everyone, please disperse. My associates, the authorities and I will take care of this problem. Remain calm and go to your homes." The Professor directed. The crowd conversed in confusion but quickly decided to listen to him. Rowan gathered Anna, Dawn, Brad, Christian and Tyler around him.

"The three lakes seem to have been attacked by Team Galactic. I am going to have to go to Sunnyshore City to talk this over with someone, I will not tell with whom. You five need to go investigate the lakes and get rid of Team Galactic if you can. Anna and Dawn, you two will go to Lake Verity. Tyler and Christian, go to Lake Valour. Brad, I am trusting you to go to Lake Acuity by yourself." Rowan didn't wait for them to object. He took out a pokeball, released a Staraptor and flew off. The group of five exchanged glances and then nodded in agreement.

Anna released her own Staraptor and she and Dawn flew off to Lake Verity while Brad's Noctowl lifted him and Christian and Tyler to their locations.

Staraptor flew down to Twinleaf Town as it was the closest place to the Lake. Anna and Dawn disembarked and started running toward the Lake. They passed Anna's house, which Dawn was unaware of but Anna wished deeply that she could stop and go inside. She wondered if her family was alright being so close to the explosion. She wondered about Justyna's mom too…But right now, more pressing matters were at hand. Dawn was already prepared, riding atop Anthony and with Obama running by her side. She reached out her hand and pulled Anna onto her dashing garchomp, from where Anna released Luxray and Kisa so that they could follow.

They were out of town and approaching the lake. They slowed down and hid in the forest, looking out over the shining waters that were no longer there. All the water in the lake must have been drained, or blown away by the explosion, or evaporated by it. There were finneons and magikarps flapping around on the ground and Team Galactic members were seen kicked them into piles on the side. Few of them had pokemon out, probably confident in their plan. Anna and Dawn exchanged a glance and they sneaked a bit closer to the lakes edge. Anna's mind suddenly brimmed with memories of her first pokemon battle here, with the same enemy and her first pokemon. It wasn't different now expect that Justyna had been replaced with Dawn. Anna growled under her breath, giving a quick look to Dawn who understood and leaped out, leading the charge.

The villains were taken completely by surprise. Obama quickly zigzagged through the mud, Quick Attacking any opponent pokemon to the side. Anthony, with efficiency and care, swept the Team Galactic members off their feet and to the side, like they had done to the poor, flapping, fish pokemon. Paul was floating around, looking for something. He was drawn to a cave perched on a smooth hill in the middle of the lake. He clung to its entrance and cried in a gentle, high-pitched mew. Dawn heard him and shouted to Anna who came running out of the forest on Kisa with Luxray dashing and clearing enemies for her with his Spark attack. Kisa bounded towards the hill and pulled herself up to the top. Anna called Luxray to her and sent out Golduck to water the fish and left Kisa outside as a guard. She and Luxray entered the cave.

There was a large puddle covering the entire floor of the cave. At first it seemed arbitrary but Anna realized that the puddle was in some sort of strange shape. There was a reflection of a red-haired woman in the water; Commander Mars turned around, hearing Anna splashing footsteps.

"We meet again." She said with a smirk, "Why am I not surprised?"

"Why did you blow up the Lake?" Anna demanded, Luxray snarled and stepped up to fight for his master.

"Cutting right to the chase are we?" Mars said eagerly, "I'd love to disclose that information. But unfortunately, you'll have to take it up with our boss. That is, if you really think you can do anything about it."

"Hell yes I'm going to do something about it!" Anna shouted, "What are you people planning to do?"

Mars shrugged, "Do you know the pokemon that lives here?"

Anna was confused for a second before she remembered the legend that was always told in Twinleaf Town. A special pokemon, one of a legendary trio, lived in the Lake. It gave people their emotions and anyone would be fortunate to as much as see it. Anna's eyes scanned the cave; it certainly had a very ancient and holy feel to it but there was no pokemon inside besides her own.

"Did you catch it? Is that why you all blew up the Three Lakes? To get the legendary pokemon for some dastardly scheme of yours?" Anna demanded to know but Mars kept standing with her arms crossed and a large, bemused grin on her face.

"Oh, it's more than a dastardly scheme, I can tell you that much." She giggled, "I can also tell you YES!" Mars screamed the last word psychotically and she threw three pokeballs at Anna, releasing a Golbat, Bronzor and her beloved Purugly. Luxray used Thunderbolt as a reflex, immediately knocking out the bat. Bronzor was extremely weakened and left wavering in the air but Purugly was seemingly unaffected by the attack. She jumped Luxray and bit his ear and chucked him against a wall, easily ripping a chunk of the ear off. She spat it out and leaped on him again. Luxray recovered quickly and jumped right at her, tackling her at the stomach and assuming dominance over her. He swiped at her face and then used Thunder with all his might, knowing that it could not miss. Purugly screeched in pain and was quickly unconscious. Luxray stumbled off of her, only to be hit in the head by the Bronzor still floating around. The electric lion fell into the water, drained; Paul flew out of the ground, stealthily defeating the bronzor with a Shadow Sneak attack.

Mars was taken aback and panting angrily. She quickly put on her composed mask again.

"Well, that wasn't too unexpected." She said smarmily, "I'm not too worried. Even though I expect you have your two other friends fighting my fellow commanders at the other lakes, I know that everything has gone exactly as planned." Mars pressed a button on her wristband and the back of the cave collapsed. A small squad of grunts was there and they helped the Commander escape. Anna let them go; she was too busy tending to her Luxray. The considerably large part of his ear that was missing didn't seem to be causing him much pain; he was mostly just exhausted. Still, Anna hugged him tightly and searched her bag for a cloth to tie it with. Anthony with Dawn on his back, crouched and entered the cave through the back of the cave that had been blown away.

"Is everything alright?" Dawn asked.

"The Galactic people are collecting the three legendary pokemon from the lakes for something! And that bitch's Purugly bit off Luxray's ear!" Anna informed her angrily. Dawn had some bandages and wrapped up Luxray very professional-like.

"I got a call from Tyler a little while ago. He said that they got rid of the people at Lake Verity."

"Did Brad call you?"

"Not yet."

Luxray climbed onto Kisa's back so that he could rest in the open air. Golduck and soon Valour too were doing their best to keep the fish pokemon watered and breathing. Anthony, Obama and Rampardos started to dig long, deep ditches so that the water pokemon could fill them up and they could then place the fish into a makeshift aquarium. By the time it was finished, Golduck and Valour were parched themselves. Anna was carrying a bottle of Green Tea and two greedily drank it all. For awhile, they sat there relaxing, not sure what to do next. Then Anna's phone started to ring. It was Brad.

"Hello? I can't hear you. Is it really windy on your end? That's what it sound like. What? WHAT?" Anna's voice suddenly jumped from monotone to extremely frazzled.

"We'll be there in like fifteen minutes!" Anna hung up. "Brad said that he got to Lake Acuity and Team Galactic was gone. And that he found Justyna there, lying in the snow!" They returned all their pokemon to their pokeballs and jumped on Anna's Staraptor, flying north as fast as they could.


	42. let me tell you how i once killed a man

They landed on the snowy banks of the lake with a loud WHOMP and quickly dashed to Brad who was crouching over the Justyna, who was lying facedown in the snow; her jolteon, Light was lying next to her, shivering. No questions were asked yet. They picked her up and put her on Staraptor and along with Brad's Noctowl, all flew to Snowpoint City to Jennifer's house. They burst into the living room and put Justyna on the couch where she was supposed to be. The house was quiet except for their loud commotion. Jenn's turtwig was sleeping on the table and looked up, seeming mildly interested. Anna, Dawn and Brad stayed in the house until the door opened again and Jenn walked in.

"Woah! What's with all the people in my house?" Jenn exclaimed.

Then more people in the form of Christian, Tyler and Professor Rowan entered the house. Jenn faintly screamed out of confusion.

"Why weren't YOU in your house?" Dawn accused her.

"I went to buy some food for like an hour." Jenn explained with nervous eyes, "Why did something happen while I was gone?" Then Brad told them what exactly transpired.

"So I dropped off Tyler and Christian at Lake Verity because THEY don't have any decent flying pokemon. Then I flew to Snowpoint City because of course, I can't just fly to the Lake itself." Brad grumbled, Anna totally laughed in his face. "So yeah, I got to the lake on foot and when I got there, Team Galactic was running away and Justyna was standing in the snow without a jacket. Then she turned around and fell over and I was like WTF?"

"She left the house?" Jenn gasped, "How? I locked the door and Dirk was here watching over the place…" Their attention was drawn to a broken window and the turtwig yawning and dozing lazily on the table. Light barked to get their attention and started licking his trainer's face. Justyna opened her eyes and looked around at all the faces staring at her.

"There are a lot of people in this room."

"Did you go off to fight Team Galactic by yourself?" Anna asked, playing the angry mother.

"No…" Everyone glared at Justyna.

"There was a huge boom somewhere. And I had to know what it was." Justyna confessed. "Then I beat people up."

"Is that what you were you thinking? You're sick!" Jenn fretted.

"Justyna, you could have died." Dawn said severely.

"Or worse." Christian joined him. Brad punched his head. "Brilliant."

"Well, at least someone got rid of Team Galactic at the Lake." Rowan also joined in, attempting to smooth over the situation. "And all of you have concluded the same thing about the matter. The three lakes were attacked because Team Galactic wanted to capture the three legendary pokemon of the lakes: Mespirit, Uxie and Azelf. Since we couldn't find any of these pokemon at their respective lakes, we can either assume they are hiding or captured. We can't take the chance that they are safe." Rowan stroked his moustache with great concern.

"What do we do?" Tyler asked.

"Do you know that large, spiked building that overlooked Veilstone City?"

"You mean the really suspicious one?" Dawn asked sarcastically.

"The very same one. That is where Team Galactic main Headquarters are. I've known this for a while, but I was unsure of how serious a threat these people were. I thought that perhaps they were just another Team Rocket." Rowan continued in the same serious tone.

"But I thought they were responding to Team Galactic." Christian brought up.

"They are, but that doesn't change the fact that they are an ineffectual crime organization." Rowan wrote him off. "Still, something very grave is occurring in Sinnoh. And the five of you need to infiltrate the Veilstone building and try to find out what it is."

Justyna was shocked to find that she wasn't invited to join into the shenanigans again.

"I'm getting better!" she croaked.

"If anything, you're a lot worse now! It'll take at least a weak for you to get better!" Jenn scolded her. She brought tea and knitted cup warmers for the guests to enjoy as they rested.

"As soon as you're all feeling well enough, you go to Veilstone and find out as much as you can." Rowan ordered. He drank the last of his tea and stood up from the table. "I need to go back to Sunnyshore City. My visit was cut short when SOMEONE called me for a flight to Snowpoint." Tyler gave a mild shrug. And the Professor was gone.

The others were soon all cheery as well. They bid Jenn a 'thank you' and 'see you in about an hour' whilst Justyna kept complaining and inquiring about why she couldn't come with. So Brad punched her in the face and she fell asleep. Then they left on Anna's Staraptor and Brad's Noctowl named Luke.

They shortly landed in Veilstone City and crept up the hill to the Veilstone building. The front door was locked and no amount of kicking and knocking would get it open. The group was stumped about getting in when Dawn suddenly started to wander off, following Paul. The shuppet floated down the hill and flew west, leading them to a small shack, tucked away at the far end of town.

"Have we been here before?" Dawn pondered.

"I don't think so…" Anna replied.

They ventured inside. It was dark but they were able to find a staircase and safely make it down stairs. They decided to send out some pokemon in preparation for battle: Anna sent out Luxray, Dawn released Obama; Brad let out Hekate, Tyler sent out Reepy and Christian released Riku, his Leafeon. They sneaked and trekked through the slightly outlined hallway, jumping when the lights occasionally flicked on and then just as quickly turned off. It must have been an electrical surge. They reached another flight of stairs that led up and they came out into a brightly lit room with a familiar colour scheme and feel to it. They knew they must be inside Team Galactic's Headquarters.

The hallways were still shockingly empty, their pokemon walked less cautiously and sniffed around for anything interesting but the place was ridiculously sterile. Paul led the way, guiding them down past any forks in the road. There weren't many stairs in this part of the building but warp spaces, which popped them from one room to the next. Paul knew which ones to take. Dawn hugged him and thanked something for her fantastic little plot device.

Soon however, they started hearing a low cheering. It got louder and louder and chants could be clearly heard: "WE WILL REBUILD THIS WORLD!" "THE WORLD WILL BE A BETTER PLACE!" "HAIL CYRUS, OUR SAVIOUR!"

The group became more cautious again. They quested through the halls in silence, listening to the loud cries for destruction and reconstruction. Paul stopped them and motioned with his horn down one hallway. Then he slowly floated down it and looked back. Dawn decided to follow her shuppet while the others stayed behind.

Dawn followed Paul with her Umbreon close to her feet. Paul led her to a door, which she carefully opened just a little and looked out into a large and loud auditorium. The place was decorated with the Black and Golden 'G' emblem of the organization and crowded with grunts and men in lab coats. There was a raised platform near the front of the room where five figures entered: Commanders Mars, Jupiter and Saturn; a scientist; and Mr. Frizzy.

"CYRUS! CYRUS!" Mr. Frizzy took center stage.

Christian was just getting bored when Dawn came running down the hall on her little kindergarten legs.

"Run! All the Galactic people are coming this way!" she hissed. They ran, following Paul. Dawn explained.

"Anna! You remember that frizzy-haired guy we met WAY back when?" Anna nodded.

"He's in charge of the whole thing. And he really is insane! He wants to destroy the universe so that he can create a new one!" Dawn explained as they were running.

"Right. How's he going to do that?" Brad asked, doubting that such a thing was possible.

"His speech was very vague. That must be why he has so many followers. But he said that he had created something called a Red Chain that would help him somehow."

Paul led them through the bowels of the institution, avoiding any grunts or scientists; not that they thought they'd lose but so to avoid detection. The intuitive little shuppet gradually started to become more and more shaky and concerned, but he masked as much of it as he could so that he could lead them well and put an end to this horror. They were there.

Anna, Dawn, Brad, Tyler and Christian snuck in through a door and found themselves in a large office. It had a very metallic feel to it: it was very clean, geometrical and filled with technological crap. They wanted to look around more closely and see what they could find out but Paul was imploring them to follow him to the back of the office, where there was another door. The hallway was distinctly different from the style of the office; it was brown and dirty and while still metallic, it seemed constructed by chaos. The hallway spilled into a large, square room, also governed by computers. There were three tubes in the center of the room filled with murky ooze. There were vague shapes within them and they were deathly still.

The five spread out to examine the room. Brad looked around at the computers and started to read anything that seemed indicative of anything. Christian and Tyler checked some of the screens too. Anna, Dawn and Paul were drawn to the middle. Anna shuddered in fear that these three tubes contained what she thought they did. They peered closer. The three beings inside the tubes all looked similar. They were small and simian-like. They were curled up tight as if they were trying to squeeze out all the pain inside them. Anna had never seen such pokemon before but she guessed that they were –

"The Legendary Trio of the Lakes: Mespirit, Azelf and Uxie." Everyone jumped and span around to see who had just walked in on their little snooping-around party. It was Mr. Frizzy.

"Well, it seems we have some uninvited guests." A very creepy scientist that accompanied Mr. Frizzy smiled and rubbed his hands together.

"It's Mr. Frizzy!" Dawn shouted. And as soon as she did, the man shot her a look so serious and dark, Dawn understood that he had once killed someone and wouldn't hesitate to jump at her and twist her neck 360 degrees right there. Dawn retreated behind Paul and Obama. All of their pokemon were trying to be strong, but they were in fear of the man with the bloodshot stare; they could all see it and their trainers were realizing it too.

"It seems I didn't introduce myself the last time we met. My name is Cyrus." The man glared at them all so that they were speechless to do anything.

"Did you all come to free these Legendary Pokemon?" He asked without a hint of emotion in his voice.

"We-we came to find out what the heck, you're doing with this whole Galactic thing!" Anna shouted. Cyrus had come fully into the room and the five of them had come together and cowered in front of the three tubes containing the Legends.

"I want to make the world a better place." The man said, as if it was that simple.

"And what's so wrong with the world?" Christian asked, hugging his leafeon tightly.

"Dude, don't even…" Brad sighed; his absol hugged him tightly.

"There are many reasons." Cyrus started, "But I have other more important matters to attend to than humoring a group of children." Cyrus motioned towards a computer with his head and the sneaky, creepy scientist behind him rushed to it, typing a command into the computer. The children held onto each other tighter as the tubes behind them hissed and slowly drained of liquid. It seeped through the dirty machine and onto them. It was like translucent mud. The three pokemon inside the tubes were revealed. They were scarred and limp, hanging from wires that were attached to them like marionettes. The tubes slid open, releasing an awful, rotting smell. Cyrus clapped his hands in steady congratulation. The three spirits were suddenly wide-awake, and they teleported away. It felt like a great amount of air had been sucked out of the room by their sudden absence.

"I don't need those three anymore." Cyrus said simply. "I don't need this building anymore." Cyrus walked to a computer on the other side of the room, passing the group that cowered still, clutching their pokemon. Cyrus reached inside a container and pulled out a red chain with three links. "I don't need Team Galactic. This is all I need." Cyrus eyed it as if he were intoxicated with infatuation. He didn't say anything else. His scientist helper stood anxiously on the other side of the room. The group held onto one another in the center of the room. Dawn mewed; she was cold. Cyrus whipped around as if he was surprised.

"Are you still here? All of you may leave." He said simply. Brad pointed weakly at the door.

"Yes. Please leave. I don't believe either of us need each other anymore." Cyrus eyed them with his tired, vicious eyes. Holding onto their pokemon, the five of them walked to the door.

"No." They stopped. "There's a warp spot right here. It will take you to the entrance. There is no need for you to waste your time wandering those corridors again."

So they filed past Cyrus, stepping onto the warp panel and leaving the room. The last one to leave was Dawn; Obama was in her arms and Paul was sticking to her side. He took one last look at Cyrus. The man wasn't looking at him but Paul could see him. He could see Cyrus give the slightest hint of a smile, creeping across his otherwise emotionless and stone dead face.

The children walked outside the building; they all felt dazed. As if they were in a dream. They didn't know what to do. Someone's phone rang.

"Hello?" Brad answered.

"Brad? Are you in Veilstone? Stay where you are, I'm coming over there." They waited, walking around the city. Suddenly, Professor Rowan appeared in front of them.

"Didn't I tell you to stay in one place? How did it go?"

"Fine." Brad said.

"Fine?"

"The guy behind it all, his name is Cyrus. He was keeping the Three Legendary Lake Pokemon but he let them go just now. He said he didn't need Team Galactic anymore."

"I don't believe it."  
"It's what he said."

Rowan took a step back. The group looked more than weary. They looked like they had just been wandering through a desert and had just emerged, still oblivious to the world around them.

"Get out your flying pokemon."

Being a responsible adult, Professor Rowan brought the group up north. He knocked on Jenn's door and together, they placed the boys and girls on chairs and made tea for them. Rowan said he had important business to attend to and that they keep their phones on in case he needs them. They all nodded and sipped their tea. Justyna was awake and eyed them all suspiciously.

"How'd it go?"  
"Okay." Anna said.


	43. Bliss before the Bang

A full week had come to pass by the time they were all sane enough to leave. Anna, Dawn, Brad, Tyler, and Christian didn't give any specific details about what happened and Jenn and Justyna left them alone for the most part. Justyna got better and started helping Jenn out around the house and with their new patients. Then she'd go outside and train her pokemon, bringing home, one of these days, a very jolly snover named Wario. Soon, the others started getting a bit better and going outside too.

When a week had passed, they'd all gotten over it. They decided to leave.

"Noooo!" Jenn cried, "You guys are my new best friends!" She hugged them all very hard. They were sad but they really had to go. :C Jenn had made them all keychains, which they put on their pants to display their strong bond of friendship. Justyna pulled Jenn and Dirk in for one last, long hug and then kissed her goodbye. Anna did too since she had European roots as well(even though she and Justyna both had Japanese last names). Then they exited.

Anna, Dawn and Brad were a bit lost on where to go after their week of lounging and Christian and Tyler had nothing better to do. Justyna knew what to do though.

"You guys said that you'd gotten the Canavale Badge right? Well, then we got seven badges now, so we have to go get the last one in Sunnyshore City!" Justyna used Simple Logic.

"I thought that way was closed." Dawn said, eager to point of the loop in Justyna's Logic.

It wasn't closed anymore! The six flew to Pastoria City and walked along the beach to the east, beating up small children as they did. They made it to the Resort where Anna, Justyna and Dawn had spent several leisurely moments. There was now no one guarding the way further east. There they could see from the top of the hill, a sprawling electrical city that looked very shimmery in the setting sun. It soon became nighttime so they had on their hands, a nighttime 80's rockin' training montage as they plowed their way to Sunnyshore City. They arrived in the city at about 3 in the morning and booked a hotel.

They woke up feeling fresh and fine and ready to take the new day by the rooster. The city was much larger than they had thought previously in their sleepy stumbling the night before. There were electric bridges overhead the streets connecting tall buildings and raised portions of the land for easy transportation. There was a dandy lighthouse within view and there was a spectacular sea surrounding Sunnyshore.

They visited all the fabulous shops, buying pokemon supplies, accessories and machines. They dined at a fine fabulous restaurant where they were served by Electabuzz in maid outfits. Tyler's emotions were both amused and confused. They also decided to visit the gym that they had come to see. But they found it closed. It wasn't a big problem though, since they had the beach to visit. They had much beach fun there; the girls had their swimsuits and the boys bought some swimming trousers. They splashed and splished and had much fun until the day was done. Their pokemon also had a fantabulous time. It was discovered that Tyler had gotten a Walrein named Sphealy in Hoenn and the giant walrus pokemon swam through the waters barking like an excited Saint Bernard. Some of the other pokemon took turns riding on his back, as well as on the backs of all the other water pokemon in the group like Riceball, Golduck, not Valour, and Chops, Brad's new Kabutops. It was loads of fun and they returned to their hotel rooms, satisfied. The next day, they went in search of that Gym Challenge.

They hadn't been to the Lighthouse yet and news on the street was that the Gym Leader hung out there. So they went there, spared the climbing up stairs by the elevator, and found themselves in the large, circular, bright room atop the famous lighthouse. They weren't too sure of how the Gym Leader looked, though Dawn knew that he was blonde. There was little need though because the gang saw their familiar, old, bearded professor-friend standing near the window with a blonde man dressed in blue. Anna, Justyna and Dawn all reared from the hotness. The man noticed and looked at them strangely. The girls giggled while Brad, Tyler, and Christian rolled their eyes. The girls skipped over to the Gym Leader and Professor Rowan with the boys following.

"Hello children! I see you're all feeling better!" Rowan said with a wide, fuzzy smile.

"Yep! Who's this guy?" Justyna asked eagerly, eying the tall, blonde guy.

"This is Volkner, this town's Gym Leader." Rowan replied encouragingly, seeing the looks in the girl's eyes.

Volkner gave a curt wave and didn't say anything. Then he did.

"Come challenge me at my Gym." Then he left in the coolest way possible. The girls nearly fainted. Tyler commented that he looked familiar.

"Yeah, I feel like eating some Ramen." Christian said aloud. Tyler elbowed him as he thought Chris was just acting stupid.

Professor Rowan looked hastily at his watch. "Well, I have nowhere to be. I'd like to see you all battle a man such as Volkner. He's very powerful."

"I'm sure he is…" Dawn said with a great big grin.

There was now an argument about who would battle Volkner on the way to his Gym. Anna and Dawn and Justyna all wanted a piece of the man but only two of them could challenge him!

"Can we battle Volkner?" Brad asked, speaking for the other two boys in the group.

The girls gave a resounding 'NO' and Rowan laughed while Brad grumbled.

Making your way through a Gym of electronic puzzles involving spinning and rotating bridges is not very difficult for fueled females. The boys took to standing back as all this was very amusing, even Rowan was getting a huge kick out of it. They reached their prize: Volkner was sitting on an electric throne made of yellow and lime green metal and those things that stick out of Frankenstein's neck. He looked very bored.

"How dare you." He said with little interest. "You kept me waiting."

"Shut up! We're going to beat you!" Anna said, a little frustrated.

"All three of you? Sure, why not." Oh yes. Triple battles exist. The girls looked at each other with a bit of confusion but happily tossed it aside for some action. Rowan, Brad, Tyler and Christian sat down to watch; Brad's absol was sitting beside him watching as well as Tyler's Reepy and Christian's two eeveelutions.

Volkner coughed casually and stood up, jumping down from this throne like a total badass. He already had three pokeballs in his hands and threw them to release a Raichu, Luxray and a freakin' Electvire. Anna, Justyna and Dawn sent out Kisa, Riceball, and Anthony respectively. Why the obvious disadvantage? To complete the Mom Squad, of course.

Raichu, with its speed, used Thunder against them; Riceball ducked behind Kisa and Anthony, who were impervious to electrical attacks. Kisa then used Earthquake, shaking in the entire Gym to its core. Anthony was hurt a little but shook it off and Riceball had managed to jump on Kisa's back during the attack and was unharmed. Raichu and Luxray had jumped onto Electvire and had been safe too. Electvire was hurt. A bit. Anthony used Earthquake as well. Same results. When that was over, Raichu and Luxray quickly leaped at them, aiming for Riceball, who was still on Kisa's back. Kisa whipped them with Razor Leaf and Anthony used Dragon Claw. The rat and lion were momentarily stunned, long enough for Riceball to leap off Kisa and hit them simultaneously with Hydro PUMP! They were both thrown against the wall and knocked out, though not fainted. Riceball was suddenly struck by a powerful Discharge attack; Kisa and Anthony didn't feel it. Riceball fell over, groaning in pain but still conscious. Anthony jumped in front of her and used Dragon Rush, charging towards Electvire and hitting him straight on. Though it did damage, the attack didn't budge the giant yellow pokemon and it retaliated with Low Kicks. Kisa made sure that Raichu and Luxray were still stunned before running over and attacking Electvire with Razor Leaf. The beast shook them both off and roared. Electvire jumped on top of Kisa and grabbed the giant tree on her back, refusing to let go. Anthony tried to hit it without harming Kisa, but it was proving to be difficult. Finally, he had to just ram into her in order to throw the beast off.

Kisa was flipped over on her back, hurting in the side, while Anthony tangoed a Dance of Death with the savage Electvire. It hit him with the only attack that could affect him, Low Kick. Anthony was able to take little damage for them and inflicted a lot more with his Slashes and Dragon Claws. But the monster was still standing and out of the blue, it pushed Anthony away from him and used Hyper Beam, sending the land shark flying across the room and against the wall. He fell on the floor and struggled to get up before just collapsing. Electvire stood panting and recharging from the attack. The assault on her friend gave Kisa strength. She rolled over on her stomach and hit Electirve with more Razor Leafs. Once she was closer, she used Mega Drain and when filled with new energy, used all her might to send the most powerful Razor Leaf she could manage, so powerful in fact, that it evolved…into a Leaf Storm! And Electvire fell to the group with a grisly expression on his face of psychotic masochism. The fight was over. Or so she thought, as Raichu and Luxray proved themselves to still be alive and leaped on Kisa's back, clawing and biting. They were both shot off by a Bubblebeam that Riceball still had the energy to produce. She waved to Kisa, who waved back.

"Well that was certainly…interesting." Volkner said in a very snooty voice. The girls rolled their eyes. They knew that he had wuuuuuved it. Brad, Tyler, Christian and Rowan clapped for their victory. Volkner handed them the Beacon Badge and turned to go.

"You know-!" Volkner called after them, "You three are very good trainers…perhaps I could treat you all to dinner."

They were going to say NO. But free food is always welcome.

And so he treated the girls. The boys had to buy their own food. It was a very fancy meal indeed with red lobster and blue crabs. It was a chandelier type of restaurant.

"So where are you ladies going next?" Volkner asked them in a gentleman's voice, as opposed to Nadsat.

"Well, we have all 8 badges now. I guess all we have left to do now is challenge the Elite Four!" Justyna exclaimed. Logic was super effective.

They had a little night out on the town, meaning they all went down to the beach and everyone was totally jealous that these three girls(and three boys and one old veck) were hanging out exclusively with the Sunnyshore Gym Leader. Their water pokemon entertained, as did their flying ones. And their fire ones build a giant bonfire and they danced many merry times.

They awoke the next morning back in their hotel room, not very conscious of how they had gotten there. They checked out and Rowan said that he had arranged something for them. They walked north and walked out to the beach where they had had very merry times. Volkner was there, back to his old self and he waved. Rowan led them to a small but impressive speedboat. There was a tall, Indian boy on the ship and he waved.

"This young man can take you straight to Victory Road." Rowan said as Anna, Dawn and Justyna climbed on. "Fortunately, I cannot accompany you, however, I am sending my assistant in my place." And Rowan threw Brad onto the ship and slapped the ass of the boat. It sped off into the sea, leaving the Professor, Tyler and Christian at the shore of Sunnyshore. Brad sighed of the relief of being finally rid of the two. The girls knew they all wuuuuuuuuuved each other though.

The boy driving the boat was named Kasualandra and he made awkward small talk while they sailed.

"I had this great idea for an essay topic: if people are having too much sex everywhere, why don't they just raise the price of condoms?" Everyone laughed and rolled on the deck although the comment had given Dawn an obscenely marketable idea. Their water pokemon were out and swimming about: Valour was happily zipping along while Riceball and Golduck were leisurely surfing by the sides of the boat. Chops the Kabutops stayed on the ship and stared at the water with a disturbingly blank expression.

They landed happily at a giant waterfall, which would have proved very aggravating if their sailor friend hadn't have happened to have had a Swampert that knew Waterfall; Valour was enchanted. They thanked the boy, the girls giving him a hug, and waved goodbye as his ship disappeared down the waterfall. They entered the cave with ambition and good cheer and that was what they found there. They had stocked up on supplies in Sunnyshore and were happy to spend a full day on Victory Road, camping out in the cave and continuing the next day. They sportily challenged the trainers there, winning all their matches, but then friendly talked and jested with them. They waltzed through the cave with confidence and jubilance. Paul was following them, unnoticed, floating and spinning, intoxicated by the bliss and joy that had been absent for so long. He semi-guided them out the final twist and tunnel and out into the bright sunny morning. The dew was fresh and new around the Elite Four Palace as it should be called, and our four friends and their pokemon were ready to challenge it.


	44. The LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG Haul

The Nurse Joy greeted them in the foyer as she had countless times before. Perhaps this would be the last time, at least the last time on THIS adventure; they weren't gonna be knocked out anytime soon. They had enough revives and potions to last them. They walked up the stairs that led to a large door. There was a handsome young man there who looked over their badges. He nodded and smiled warmly, opening the door and welcoming them to their well-earned challenge.

The floor they stood on became a moving walkway and slowly moved them down a dimly lit hallway. The seemingly endless darkness in front of them was opened by a sliding metal door and the hallway was flooded with light. The light revealed a large room with a dome ceiling that was furnished to look like a small thicket. There were distinguishable chalk lines that indicated a battle area; they stood at the end of one while a tall, slim, green-haired man stood at the other. He smirked in a friendly way, inviting them to challenge him. They conversed quickly over it and two girls with the scarf and the chocobo hairclip stepped up.

The boy sent out a large Yanmega and a Drapion, together. The girls sent out Makowca and Staraptor. The rash typhlosion immediately unleashed a mighty Fire Blast that scorched both of the bugs badly; Yanmega took less damage but Drapion was struggling to stand. Staraptor swooped in from the air with Aerial Ace and disposing of it completely. The Drapion was quickly called back and replaced by a Vespiqueen. Yanmega was fast as well and used Ancient Power, launching large stones at Staraptor. She dodged most but was critically hit by one of the rocks and pinned to the ground. As she struggled to knock it off, Makowca attacked again with Fire Blast. She was winded from the first attack and her flames burned Yanmega a little and missed Vespiqueen entirely. Yanmega zoomed in to attack the typhlosion while Vespiqueen approached the helpless Staraptor. She smiled devilishly and jabbed the bird in her neck, infecting her with Toxic. Being hurt already, the poisonous attack was draining her quickly. Seeing no quick way to solve the problem, her master called Staraptor back to her pokeball and sent out her charmeleon. Piotr quickly recognized the threat and used Fire Fang, biting into Vespiqueen large abdomen. The queen bee Slashed at him and managed to fling him off but was obviously flustered by the powerful attack. Meanwhile, Yanmega was defeated with another Fire Blast, used directly at the bug's front. Yanmega returned and Heracross was released in his place, immediately charging at Makowca due to its hostile nature. The typhlosion was knocked across the room and continued to wrestle with the beetle while Piotr fought with Vespiqueen. The bee pokemon was Slashing at him pathetically, keeping her distance from the quick fire type. Piotr dodged her attacks easily and jumped at her occasionally when her guard was lowered, using Ember or Fire Fang. Although his attacks did less than substantial damage, they spooked the prim Vespiqueen and kept her away. Piotr was tiring of the endless dodging when she was suddenly knocked away by a Heracross being thrown into her. Makowca had managed to take advantage of his Megahorn attack and use the force to toss him across the arena. Both bug pokemon were conscious but weakened and Piotr and Makowca stood together to attack them with a dual Flamethrower. There was one pokemon left, a Scizor, standing alone at the other edge of the arena. Makowca scoffed and attacked with a Flamethrower. The Scizor leaped out of the way before it even reached him and rebounded off the wall at Piotr, taking him out in one clean Slash. Piotr returned to his ball. Thinking it fair, they continued the battle as one-on-one. Makowca attacked again with a Fire Blast but Scizor leaped out of the way and Slashed her. The typhlosion attacked again with Flamethrower but that missed too. Infuriated, she started clawing at Scizor with Cut. He avoided some of them but cleverly at one point, stood still and took the weak attacks and hit Makowca from a close range with Night Slash. She was knocked on her back, allowing Scizor to leap on top of her and finish with another Night Slash. She was returned and thinking it fair, the trainers switched and Staraptor was sent out again, being cured with a Full Heal. She quickly took to the air but Scizor could not be avoided; he jumped up and propelled himself off the walls to reach her. Staraptor dodged as much as she could, but he was extremely fast. Frustrated by his constant jabs, she used Close Combat and managed to hit Scizor as he was leaping by. He was knocked out of the air, hitting the floor hard and retaining damage. Staraptor quickly composed herself and dived, gathering speed and attacking Scizor with Fly. Scizor was defeated.

The green-haired boy started to laugh in disbelief but then quickly started to laugh with good cheer. He gave them a respectful nod and helped his Scizor to his feet, opened the door to the next chamber and gestured for them to make their way through. They stepped past the door, finding themselves on a moving walkway that moved forward, up and forward again. They took the time to heal their fainted and hurt pokemon, soon emerging once again out of the darkness of the hallway into a bright room. This one looked like a canyon with overarching stone cliffs and a sandy floor. An old woman sat in a comfortable chair on the other side of the arena. She glanced up from a book and stood up, seriously eying the group from across the room. After conferring again, the same two girls stepped up to the battle. The woman looked at them with calculating eyes and reached into the pockets of her jacket and tossed out two pokeballs.

A Whiscash and a Golem were released, landing with felt shakings of the ground beneath their weights. The first two were sent out: Riceball landed lightly but powerfully on her feet and Kisa landed with an audible THUD, sending sand into the air. Whiscash could not move well on land and hit them with an Earthquake; like they did before, Riceball jumped on Kisa's back and was safe from the attack while Kisa took a little damage. After the attack was over, Kisa hit the two pokemon with Leaf Storm. Whiscash was flipped onto its back by the attack, barely conscious. Golem was able to take it and retaliated by curling up into a ball and charging towards them in Rollout. Riceball jumped from Kisa's back to in front of her and attacked the rolling boulder with Surf, summoning a tidal wave that engulfed the entire other side of arena, stopping the charging golem and finishing off the flopping Whiscash. They were returned and replaced by two more monsters: Gliscor and Hippowdon. Gliscor immediately flew high into the air where none of Kisa or Riceball's attacks could reach him. He wasn't attacking them at all so they ignored him. Hippowdon roared territorially and used Sand Tomb, kicking up sand in the air and making it difficult to see. Riceball and Kisa stayed close together, trying to see through the blinding rock particles swirling about. A sudden purple blur struck Kisa and almost tipped her over. She managed to stay on all fours and prepared for another attack. Riceball boarded her again to get a better look from a greater height. Gliscor struck again and Riceball was able to grab him with the claws under her flippers. He thrashed violently and Riceball used Bubblebeam, trying not to harm the nearby Kisa. The Gliscor caused her to fall off the giant tortoise pokemon and she tried to get up and get a better hold on him. Kisa let her wander off with him and focused on the Hippowdon who she couldn't see through the sand. She soon realized that he had used the sand and his teammate's attack as a distraction and had crept up on her. Hippowdon was close to her and attacked with a devastating Double-Edge. Kisa was knocked backwards and stunned momentarily. Hippowdon was confused for a second as well as the attack had caused him to hurt himself. Kisa attacked as soon as her head cleared with Leaf Storm. The sand that was still blowing in the air pushed the leaves in every which direction, leading them to hit Riceball and Gliscor, damaging both. Hippowdon was hit by many leaves and obtained deep scratches that angered it further. It charged at Kisa, using Double-Edge again; Kisa ran at him, biting down hard on her opponent's leg, embracing the attack. The clash left both parties stunned again but Kisa was barely able to keep herself up after it. She quickly grasped Hippowdon harder and used Mega Drain with all the energy she had left. The hippo roared in pain and pushed her away. Feeling slightly rejuvenated, Kisa lunged at him and used Mega Drain again. She was at full health again and Hippowdon was defeated, his Sand Tomb subsiding along with him. Kisa could now see Riceball still struggling with Gliscor, still clinging to him and attacking with Brine and Bubblebeam rapidly. But she could not help her as Hippowdon was called back and out came a large and formidable Rhyperior. His face was emotionless and fearless; he didn't make a move to attack, seeming confident that he could resist any attack. Kisa recognized his arrogance and didn't want to take any chances. She dashed across the field at the thrashing Riceball and Gliscor, hitting both and breaking them apart. Gliscor immediately attacked her now with Aerial Ace, clinging to her as he had Riceball; he was severely weakened but refused to go gracefully. Kisa was jumping and kicking, trying to knock him off but he wouldn't let her go. He was finally knocked off by an expert Hydro Pump hitting him directly and finishing him. Kisa and Riceball regrouped; Kisa was nearly at full power while Riceball had been very tired by the thrashing and constant use of her attacks. They stood together against Rhyperior who stood and waited patiently to see how they would approach him. Riceball still had some power and attacked from a distance with Hydro Pump. Rhyperior might have been severely weakened by the attack but he didn't show it. He stood waiting still. Kisa hit him with a Leaf Storm but he still seemed like he had taken no damage. Confused, the two pokemon exchanged a glance and at that moment, Rhyperior charged forward with surprising speed. Taken aback, the two had no time to react as the monster hit Kisa with Megahorn, sending her straight into the air and landing her on her side in pain. Riceball was now aware of what had happened and with Rhyperior close, she attacked with Surf, toppling him over and revealing that their first two moves had dealt significant damage. Rhyperior was defeated and Riceball waddled over to make sure her companion was all right.

Both trainers ran to their respective pokemon and congratulated and healed them and returned them to their pokeballs for a good rest. The older lady of the other side of the field petted her large, monstrous ground pokemon and returned him to his pokeball. She eyed the triumphant group with a secretive gaze that hid her approval of their strength. She nodded and stepped to the side, extending her arm towards the open door. They went through it silently and on the familiar moving walkway, decided that the other who had participated in battles here should be allowed to challenge the Elite Four. They could feel the heat before they had even entered the next room. The third chamber was filled with fire on each side of the arena. A young man with a large red Afro was lying on the ground, staring at the ceiling. He heard their arrival and sat up, nodding in greeting and then standing up. He stood casually and awaited their challenge as they decided that for this, the girl with the tailing shuppet would replace one. Once both trainers had stepped up, the man nodded and pulled out two pokeballs and whipped them across the arena.

Houndoom and Rapidash leaped out and strutted proudly on the arena brimming with fire. Rampardos and Anthony were released and brushed off the intense flame, though both would have preferred a cooler climate. Rampardos stomped at the ground confidently and charged at the opponents. Houndoom and Rapidash scattered, with Rampardos choosing to run after the horse. She tailed her closely and used Ancient Power, hurtling rocks at the horse as she expertly dodged them. Houndoom was cut off in the other direction by Anthony, who jumped in his way and used Dragon Claw. Houndoom barked angrily and used Flamethrower, barely dealing a scratch on him. Anthony used Slash and Dragon Claw in a quick combo and Houndoom was quickly disposed of. Rampardos was still running after Rapidash, not tiring but not gaining on the magnificently fast mare. Out came another quick pokemon to replace the fallen Houndoom, Flareon. She elegantly leaped out of her pokeball and made a beeline towards Anthony, ready to take him on even though he was five times larger than her. She leaped at him and used Fire Fang. It hardly hurt him and he flung her off his arm with a simple shake. Rampardos came up behind him; she was tired of chasing Rapidash who was impossible to catch. The two fire pokemon met up and turned to face them, confident in their speed. Rampardos was called back and out came Golduck. He and Anthony shared a brief exchange and agreed that Golduck use Surf. The attack hurt Anthony significantly though not critically. The wave took up nearly the entire width of the field and their opponents found it impossible to escape. They cowered backwards until them could avoid it no further and were soaked and effectively defeated. The pair was called back and out came a quick and agile Infernape and a large and intimidating Magmortar. The monkey jumped on Magmortar's back and rode him like a giant ox. Magmortar stood and spread his arms out as if preparing for something while Infernape gestured with its hands and threw up a Protect to shield them. Anthony and Golduck didn't realize this at first and attacked anyway, both attacks bouncing off harmlessly. The Protect shield vanished after the attacks and immediately, Magmortar pointed both of its pistol arms at Golduck and Anthony however, the attack only came from one of them. A shining ray of light shot out and struck Anthony who realized that the attack was Solarbeam. He had to take a step back to keep himself steady and panted in exhaustion. Golduck was not hit yet and attacked with Water Pulse, wary that Surf could hurt and finish off Anthony. Magmortar managed to jump out of the way and Infernape jumped off and threw up another Protect. The attack lingered around the monkey as he charged towards Golduck, getting in the way of his attacks and deflecting them. Just as his defense disappeared, Infernape turned and jumped straight at Anthony recovering in a corner of the arena. He attacked the dragon with Close Combat as rapidly and viciously as he could to finish him off. He did but not before Anthony could strike back with a Dragon Claw across his chest. The monkey lumbered away in pain but was satisfied to have brought down at least one opponent. Golduck attacked him with another Water Pulse but the monkey was able to dodge it. Anthony was returned and out came Kitty, very surprised and scared to be out in the field of raging fire. He timidly tried to back away but Golduck yelled at him to face up to the challenge. Kitty stepped forward and used Assist, selecting Curse from his friend Paul and dealing no damage or significant effect. Golduck moved forward and attacked with Water Pulse again but the monkey kept dodging. He turned his attention to Magmortar who he realized was preparing another Solarbeam. Infernape jumped in front of him again to Protect him. Knowing it was useless, Golduck called to Kitty to try another move. Kitty used Assist and nothing appeared to happen. Golduck insisted again, not realizing until too late that he had been hit critically by the Solarbeam attack. He was not unconscious yet but very weak. Kitty was calling to him to get up when Infernape dashed up and used Mach Punch. The attack also left Kitty devastated but not yet defeated. It suddenly became known that Kitty had pulled out Bide using his Assist and unleashed a massive amount of backhanding energy straight at the Infernape. He screeched in anger and slapped the delcatty with another Mach Punch, sending him skidding across the field and to the feet of his trainer. The monkey leaped over to Golduck and finished him off for good measure then retreated back to his teammate. In place of the two previous came Rampardos again, who was feeling fine, and little Valour. The little mudkip jumped up and down and around in excitement but quickly realized his limits and jumped on top of Rampardos; Infernape had started hurling Fire Blasts at them. When Valour was safe on her back, Rampardos began to charge at the pair taking refuge on the other side of the field. Infernape jumped on Magmortar, seeking protection as well. He lifted his arms to try to collect light while Infernape prepared another Protect. It failed and Rampardos Headbutted the two, flipping them over and ruining their prospects. Magmortar had trouble getting up so his companion jumped off and climbed onto the dinosaur pokemon, grabbing at little Valour. The mudkip repelled his grabs with Water Gun until Rampardos could shake him off. Infernape landed on his back and lay stunned while Rampardos approached and came to tower over him. She brought her head down with massive force and pounded the mischievous monkey into the ground with Zen Headbutt. The monkey was defeated; Valour gave a small leap of triumph. Magmortar had gotten up and he rammed into Rampardos, knocked her on her side and Valour off her. The mudkip managed to land on his stomach and quickly got up, only to see his opponent had used Confuse Ray on Rampardos and attacked her with Flamethrower. She was not hurt much but distracted enough that the magma duck had time to prepare for another Solarbeam attack. Valour cried in protest and used Water Gun. Magmortar was hardly fazed as Valour used the attack again and again. Quickly seeing that it had little effect, Valour tried to get Rampardos to move. He sprayed her with Water Gun too; in her confused state, she was startled by the attack and lumbered to her feet, hitting Magmortar with her tail and causing him to stumble and miss her with his Solarbeam attack. Rampardos stomped away and Magmortar waddled to his feet to try to pursue her. When she had managed to run far enough away, Magmortar stood to find the little mudkip standing in his way. He was about to kick it out of the way when the little creature stirred up a massive way that engulfed him and knocked him on his back again. He was soaked but the small mudkip could not do him immense damage in one shot. That's why Valour hit him with another Surf attack while he was down. And another and another, right after the other so Magmortar did not have the chance to get up. Finally, Valour hit him for the seventh time and Magmortar didn't get up. The little mudkip waited for a second to be sure and then jumped and skipped back to his master with joy.

The young man with the immense Afro couldn't help but laugh at the spectacle. He crossed the field and returned Magmortar to his pokeball. The group met the man at the middle of the field where he nodded and shook hands with each of them, congratulating them and pulling them in for a hug. He accompanied them across the arena and opened the door for them, wishing them luck and waving a friendly goodbye as the door closed behind them. They rested and restored their pokemon again, grateful to have met such a nice person. They decided who would face in the tunnel and were ready when they stepped out to their fourth challenge. The room was very simple and purple with white lights decorating it. A slightly older but still young, more refined man was floating in the air on the other side of the field. He noticed them and put down the book in his hand and stepped out of the air. He carried himself proudly and eyed them with some condescendence despite how far they had come. He accepted their challenges and levitated two pokeballs from his left and right coat pocket and released his pokemon.

Mr. Mime and Bronzong sprang out of their pokeballs and awaited their opponents. The two trainers shared a knowing look and sent out Monty and Obama in response. Monty crowed loudly and launched himself high into the air, swooping down and preparing to strike. Mr. Mime spread his arms and cast Reflect. Monty was not fazed by it and flew through, Night Slashing Mr. Mime and whipping around to face Bronzong. The floating metallic pokemon's eyes glowed pale pink but no immediate effect came from it. Monty used Night Slash again and then Assurance. Obama had come from the other side of the field to join his partner. The umbreon leaped and grabbed Mr. Mime with Bite. Mr. Mime shook violently to throw him off and succeeded. But Obama landed comfortably on all fours and lunged at the pokemon again with an Assurance attack and then followed it up with another Bite. Mr. Mime used Psybeam but the attack didn't affect Obama at all; he Bit Mr. Mime again and the disturbing pokemon was defeated. Bronzong was still battling with the squawking and slashing Monty. Bronzong had used Confuse Ray but that had only made Monty more dangerous. He was about to hit it again when Bronzong grabbed his wing as if it knew when it would come down; its eyes glowed the same pale pink as before. Bronzong swung around in the air and hit Monty squarely in the side of the head. The bird was knocked out for a second while Obama jumped in with Assurance again to finish off the Bronzong. Monty awoke and Obama helped him up. Their fallen opponents were replaced by an Espeon and a Gallade; both leaped out of their pokeballs with grace and serenity, as if they were going to perform a dance instead of battle. But they proved that not so. Obama was captivated by the lovely Espeon for a moment before she whirled around and kicked sand in his face. While he was blinded, she attacked him and Monty with Swift. Gallade was gone. He jumped behind them and slashed them both it the back with Leaf Blade. Monty wasn't hurt by the grass attack and he grabbed Obama in his talons and swooped into the air to avoid the two. They knew that their psychic attacks had no effect on them and they observed them cautiously, looking for an opportunity to strike. Monty was circling the field, shaking Obama who had yet to regain his senses. He brushed the sand out of his eyes and pondered their situation. The psychic pokemon were quick and light on their feet, they could catch up to them wherever they went. Without taking him into consideration, Monty decided on his own and dived straight downward. He still clutched the umbreon in his claws as he met Gallade's Protect. Monty was deflected off of it and Espeon was at their throats with another Swift attack. Monty took most of the damage from it while Obama was hidden behind him. When he had the chance, Obama jumped over the bird and knocked Espeon back with Assurance. She cried out in pain and he immediately regretted hurting her. She sprung over to them again and used Sand Attack again. Obama was rendered sightless again but Monty jumped up and knocked the Espeon away, only to be tackled by Gallade and slashed with Leaf Blade again. Espeon got to her feet and used Swift; Obama was knocked over but he could see again. He jumped to his own feet and ran a giant circle around Espeon. She chased after him but he jumped over her and used Bite. She managed to get away the first few times until he grabbed her tail and managed to pull her and flip her over. She was a very sleek and elegant Espeon indeed but she had shown that she was unrelenting in battle. Obama used Assurance and she fell delicately into unconsciousness. Monty and Gallade were still clashing. Gallade was fast while Monty was strong; the bird jabbed at him with Night Slash and Assurance while the Gallade simply jumped out of the way and over it. The Gallade seemed to be getting ahead of Monty and his blade arms started to glow green in preparation for an attack. Obama used Quick Attack to get there and tackle Gallade down. He used Bite and Assurance but Gallade was able to block the second attack with Protect. He kicked Obama aside and prepared to attack with Leaf Blade. Obama waited, confident that Monty would attack him; he had seen him take to the air and knew he would attack soon. Monty indeed did and smashed into Gallade from the back with Fly. Gallade fell forward just as something hit Obama from behind. Obama fell on his stomach too and both of the pokemon were unconscious. Monty stood on his side of the field with the defeated Gallade while Obama lay fainted under a bulky Alakazam, recovering from a Hyper Beam. Monty scratched at the ground and cawed ferociously. He lunged at the last pokemon but he Teleported out of the way just as he did so that Monty ended up falling on his face. He picked himself up and flapped out of the way just in time as a Hyper Beam flashed past him, burning some of his feathers. Now he knew that Alakazam had to recover. He threw himself at the pokemon again, Night Slashing him with all his rage. Alakazam stood taking it, as he still had to recover from the Hyper Beam. His eyes started to glow pale and as Monty was preparing to hit him again, he grabbed his wing and threw him to the floor. He sat on top of the bird and being at full power again, he used Hyper Beam. Monty was paralyzed with pain; Alakazam was sitting on him perfectly still. He seemed to take forever for him to work up the energy to move. Any second now, he would recover and take the final blow. He had to act; he had to stand up and finish him. With the remaining strength in his body, Monty jolted and kicked Alakazam off him. He brought himself up, standing over him; he used Night Slash one last time.

The man put up his hands up to his mouth in shock; the act was delicate and frail as if performed by a very sensitive woman. He called back his pokemon and pushed his glasses up. He waited for them to walk to his side of the field. He congratulated them listlessly, looking at his nails and flipping his hair. Then with a flick of his wrist, the door behind them opened. He shooed them in and before the door shut, they glimpsed a small smile of happiness just for them. This ride was longer than the others. They went down a long corridor with lights lining the floor and portraits on the walls. They healed their pokemon with their still plentiful supply of revives and potions. They waited then patiently, realizing during the long trip just what they had accomplished. They were going to face the champion. They waited anxiously and finally the platform carried them vertically and through a circular panel in the ceiling. They were once again blinded by the sudden bright lights. The entire ceiling of the room was white and shining. The room itself was slick and black. It looked to be composed of cubes; there were square patterns on the floor and some cubes floated in the air. They were standing at one end of a giant circular arena. At the other end stood, as if completely expecting them, Cynthia. She gave them a mischievous wave and a smile and prepared to battle them. She eyed them curiously, asking who would battle here. Knowing it was only fair, they asked Cynthia and she was more than happy to oblige. Dawn, Anna and Justyna stepped up; they grasped their pokeballs in their hands and threw them.

Kisa landed with a felt WHUMP. Anthony landed with a slight shake but otherwise with full confidence. And lastly, Riceball took to the field. Cynthia smirked and sent out three of her own pokemon: Milotic, Togekiss and Roserade. Being the quickest, Togekiss raced at them with an Air Slash aiming at the vulnerable Kisa. Riceball jumped in front of her and was knocked away by the attack. Kisa used Cut and Togekiss recoiled but the attacked with Air Slash again. He was going to attack a third time but Riceball's Hydro Pump slammed him out of the way. Anthony meanwhile tried to avoid Milotic. She was pelting him with Ice Beams but he was managing to evade them despite not being able to attack himself. Riceball was attacking Togekiss from a distance with Hydro Pump; Kisa was free to leap in to help Anthony, stirring up a Leaf Storm. Anthony backed off to recover from all his running around and dodging and let Kisa battle the elegant sea serpent. He noticed that their third opponent was missing. There was a Roserade hiding somewhere on the field but it was impossible to imagine where. Roserade had been simply avoiding attention and when Kisa had used Leaf Storm, the distraction allowed the small and agile Roserade to dart across the field and hide in the tree that grew on Kisa's back. She stayed in there for a while. Anthony decided to help Riceball by surprising Togekiss with Dragon Claw and then return to startle Milotic with it as well. Togekiss was brought down with a crash by Riceball's Bubblebeam but as she admired her work, Roserade jumped from her hiding place and shot her with Energy Ball. Riceball was taken aback and knocked on her side. Before Anthony or Kisa could react, Roserade hurled another Energy Ball at Riceball and subdued her. Anthony moved to help her and became aware of the painful roar behind him. While his back was turned, Milotic tried to attack him again; when Kisa distracted her with Mega Drain, Milotic crushed her with Ice Beam. Roserade nicked him in the side with Energy Ball and Milotic loomed over him, ready to strike. Anthony jumped out of the way but lost his footing and fell on his back. Milotic prepared another ice attack and Anthony prepared to shield himself as best as he could when a large, round figure stepped in front of him and blocked it for him. Wario, having evolved into Abomasnow on Victory Road, defended him against the attack and retaliated with Wood Hammer, smashing Milotic into the ground. Roserade immediately skittered away, leaving her friend to the wrath of her opponents. Wario helped Anthony stand and their third team member joined them, Luxray bit Milotic with Thunder Fang, ending her. Roserade waited for her replacements as well: Garchomp and what seemed to be a rock. Feeling protected, Roserade sprinted across the field, shooting Energy Balls at Anthony. Wario defended him and used Icy Wind, cutting down Roserade's speed and grinding her to a halt. Luxray dashed at her with Thunder Fang. The attack warmed her up and the rose pokemon leaped over Luxray and sprung at Wario, stabbing him with her thorns and infecting him with her Toxic attack. She managed to bounce off him and avoid Anthony's Slash but Luxray used Spark and had her rushing back to her teammates, limping. Roserade climbed onto Garchomp's back and the giant dragon pokemon charged with Dragon Rush. Luxray and the others scattered out of her way but could not avoid being assaulted. Garchomp turned on her heel to face Wario and Anthony; the flower pokemon on her back faced Luxray and threw at him, something she had been cradling in her rose hands. Luxray couldn't avoid getting hit by the rock but what he expected least of all was a purple swirling fog exploding form the rock and encumbering him before spitting him out with a powerful Shadow Ball. On the other side of the arena, Garchomp charged at Anthony and Wario with Dragon Rush but when they ducked under her outstretched wings and avoided the attack, Roserade attacked them with Energy Ball. Wario was relatively safe from the attacks but Anthony was hit by one in the back of the head and fell on his stomach. Wario turned around and countered with Icy Wind, dealing damage to both Garchomp and Roserade, who was barely hanging on; he had to avoid using Blizzard with Anthony nearby. Garchomp was momentarily distracted and Anthony was able to push himself up and rush past her, slicing her side with Dragon Claw. She screeched in pain but continued to face the target in front of her and when he least expected it, she hit Wario with a savage Flamethrower. Wario screamed and ran backwards, his entire front on fire. He lumbered back and forth until he finally managed to fall on his front and extinguish the flames; but he was still rendered unconscious. Anthony jumped on Garchomp and slashed her with Dragon Claw. She was able to escape the damage though because Roserade took most of it instead. Having fainted, she could not longer hang on to the dragon's fin and slid off of her and lay on the ground. The two land sharks barked angrily in the other's face before Anthony slammed into Garchomp and became locked in a vicious close-combat brawl. Lux was being thrown across the field again by Spiritomb's Dark Pulse; being a feline, he managed to land on all fours and run a circle around him to attack from the back. He used Bite but Spiritomb dodged by ducking back into his rock, having anticipated the routine. She reemerged to attack after Luxray had stumbled but was caught off guard himself as he was pinched by a Bite and then taken by a nasty Thunderbolt. The ghost pokemon swirled angrily and found herself surrounded by the two electric felines; Luxray and Light snarled and circled the stationary pokemon. Luxray took another Bite and then with Thunder Fang. Light batted the rock that Spiritomb was emerging from and she took the opportunity to used Dark Pulse, sending spheres of darkness flying in all directions. Light got hit by one and so did Luxray. The rock finally rolled to a stop and Spiritomb continued to attack with Shadow Balls. Light and Luxray swiftly dodged them. Luxray ran around Spiritomb again, attempting to get behind her to attack. Spiritomb followed him, not allowing herself to be taken by surprise; she was by Light who was circling her too but from another angle that she couldn't see. He zapped her with one mightier Thunderbolt and the defeated ghost receded to her rocky shell. Luxray and Light ran up to one another to bump their heads together in a friendly and sporty gesture when a hard shake of the Earth alerted them that something had fallen. The dragons that had been viciously fighting had broken up and one lay on the ground, unconscious; it was unfortunately their friend. Garchomp stood over him and roared in triumph, watching him get called back to his pokeball. She was battered badly but still standing strong and her last team member joined her: Lucario, he landed on his feet with grace and strength, lifting his fists for battle. Light and Luxray didn't even manage to consult one another before Light was sent flying backwards by Lucario's Extremespeed; Luxray leapt onto the jackal-like pokemon in fury. Light shook himself off and smugly eyed Garchomp before charging straight at her. He built up all his energy and pounced on her with a Thunder attack. She took it head-on, not even flinching, and then Light realized the simple mistake he made but not before Garchomp's mighty claws came down and struck him with Giga Impact. He was then picked up and tossed out of the way by the dragon, on top of Luxray who had been beaten by Lucario. The final two pokemon from our hero's side were Riley and Paul. Lucario gave a loud, mocking laugh and whipped at them with a Psychic attack; Paul, swiftly and quietly, zipped in front of Riley and used Night Shade, blocking the attack. Garchomp screeched and charged at them with Dragon Rush. Both dashed out of the way and Riley jumped on top of her. He placed his paws to his chest and with some concentration, shot her and propelled himself off her back with a powerful Dragon Pulse. Garchomp's back arched painfully as she smashed into the ground and though her endurance, the dragon was now out of the match. Lucario was blatantly shocked and afraid. He used Psychic again, lashing it recklessly at them but Paul was once again able to deflect it with Night Shade. The little ghost then vanished from view, allowing Riley to leap through the spot where he had been and punch Lucario with Force Palm and again with Aura Sphere. Lucario recovered from the two blows with a back flip and immediately ramped into Extremespeed and knocked Riley down. He then prepared to use Psychic again but Paul appeared from the side and slammed into him with a Sucker Punch attack. Disoriented again, Lucario's knees started shaking and his head lulled as he struggled to stay standing. Riley picked himself up and joined by Paul, they sent him flying back with Aura Sphere and Sucker Punch.

There was only cheering from Brad and Hekate; it was loud but very sarcastic. The girls couldn't help but laugh. Cynthia kneeled by her Lucario, stroking his ears and helping him regain some consciousness before returning him to his pokeball. Paul and Riley hugged Dawn and Justyna tightly. They had won. All three of them, with Brad as a honourable mention, were champions. Cynthia laughed heartily and waved them over. They were going to the Champion's room, where their names would go down in history forever. The floor felt as if it was shaking in excitement as they were. It was shaking. It was a violent rumbling that went as quickly as it came. The door that had shut firmly behind them when their challenge had begun slid open and Flint, the Afroed young man ran in, helping Professor Rowan by the arm. Rowan was out of breath and glistening with sweat.

"You four! There's no time…Get to…the top…of…Mt…Coronet." And he fell to his knees, his eyes filled with the greatest fear.


	45. The End Part 1

Seeing that time was of the essence, they didn't even ask the Professor if he was alright; they jumped over him and ran out the door. The platforms that had taken them there had been sped up and moved them back through all the rooms they had previously battled in. Their challengers looked confused to see them again but gave only slight waves or screwed up expressions to show it. They burst into the front lobby and skidded to a stop in from of the Nurse Joy there. She healed them up all nice like and they leapt out the door. Anna released Staraptor, Brad sent out Luke, his noctowl and Dawn and Justyna mounted Monty and they flew into the night sky which it now was. They flew silently and with great determination that could not be shattered by a thunderous hammer, it was so great.

They landed in Hearthome City as Dawn directed, their encyclopedic knowledge of the pokemon world, though Brad helped as well. They ran through the beautifully lit city, unknowingly passing Megan and Dale on their way past. They were running past the large fountain located near the entrance/exit of the town when Dawn screamed for them to wait up. Paul had stopped. He was staring at Mt. Coronet, which was visible from here, and had a pained look on his face.

"Down be a 'fraidy-cat, Paul!" Dawn grabbed the cloth-like pokemon in her fist and dragged him along. They knew the cave would be dark and probably a challenge to navigate so Anna and Justyna sent out Luxray and Light, respectively as they ran towards the looming mountain, over a hill and a bridge and far away. They ran into the cave and knew they had to climb so they looked for a staircase or something. There wasn't one, only a row of strategically placed rocks leading upwards. Dawn grunted and said that they required Rock Climb. Anna corrected her on the grammar there but Dawn stated that that was what she meant. Brad explained and as it turned out, his recently acquired Hoenn pokemon knew how to Rock Climb. Brad sent out a large, noise Aggron named Aaron and a Kabutops named Chops. Brad jumped on Chops and the girls and their pokemon were able to all find a seat on the spacious Aggron. Brad shouted his orders and they ran up the cliffside with little effort. They decided to keep them out as there was bound to be more ascending along the way.

Luxray and Light kept the way lighted a bit but it was recognized that electric pokemon might not have been the best choice for this. They sent out Makowca and Piotr to join them and the cave took to it a rather warm and friendly glow as out four buccaneering friends fought their way though this MOFO of a cave. Makowca and Piotr were joined by a third beacon of flame as Brad sent out blaziken, brilliantly baptized Blaze. She was pretty hot. They ran into the new room of the cave and found it not easily transgressed because of an annoying little puzzle. They quickly made their way through it though to the exit where there were planks of broken wood splintered and shattered all about. It seemed that this way had been boarded up and SOMEONE related to SPACE had forced their way through it. Makowca playfully set all the planks on fire and they got the hell out of there into room next.

The next room had stairs! They went up them and found themselves at a crossroads. To their left was a path that led to an open door but right in front of them were more stairs heading down. Time was of the essence...but the stairs were too tempting and they were sure that they had plenty of time. They always seemed to make important dates right on the nose anyways. They went down the stairs: they were filled with pokemon and confusing mazes. They managed to get out the way they came, beaten up a little but still having a rousing good time. The only downer in the group was Paul, who seemed jittery and anxious and frowned upon their gaiety. Dawn tried to cheer him up a bit as they made their way to the exit, only to be greeted by blasting winds of cold, unforgiving air.

The sky was dark and clouded; wind was blowing the snow into an optically impenetrable wall. Brad, Dawn and Anna immediately retreated into the mountain. Justyna sighed and reached into her bag for a coat; she returned all her pokemon to their balls and sent out Wario, jumped on his back and rode out into the sunset snow. The others could not be left behind. They ventured out, all huddling on Brad's Aaron while Justyna led them on her abomasnow; they headed up a small cliff while she headed down the lower path that was filled with grassy patches that yielded snovers and machokes that slowed her down. They got to another huge cliffside with Rocks that could be Climbed. Aaron scaled the wall before they realized that they had left Justyna down below. Brad rummaged through his bag and found the HM08 and tossing it to Justyna. After the CD didn't slice off her fingers, she used it on Wario and he speeded up the mountain and joined them. They then rounded the corner only to find a similar layout that had been below. Brad, Anna and Dawn took the rocky but grass-free way while Justyna wandered through the snow-covered herbe and fought off other abomasnow and machokes. The path taken by three proves to be three times more tedious as it involves moving rocks and maneuvering. They finally got to the end of the path where it turned out that they had to enter the grassy area anyway to move forward. Aaron with the three trainers on its back, wandered through the snowy field, barely able to see through the gray smog of whistling snow; Brad stood atop his head and was finally able to locate a gray shape flailing its arms at them through the storm. They trotted over to Justyna, who had found an entrance back into the cave. Since it was out of the cold, snowy, haily storm and it seemed the only way to progress, they went inside.

There was a pleasant, steady pounding noise inside the cave and it was discovered that it was the rushing of a waterfall. They had to scale yet another wall and then began to walk along the cliff and marvel at the little lake that absorbed the waterfall that was tumbling into it endlessly. There seemed to be a cave that the waterfall went up to but it was one level below them and since there were no rocks indicating so, they could not use Rock Climb to get down. That was disappointing. Well, Anna scoffed at the situation. She sent out Rampardos and stole Brad's HM08 quickly to teach her dinosaur Rock Climb and jumped down to the cave and went inside. Dawn was shocked and appalled, worried that her friend was screwed. But Anna strolled out of the cave with a plate in hand and with Rampardos, simply scaled the wall with no need for specific rocks or nothin'. Everyone applauded for the task they knew could only be accomplished once through great struggle and adversity. The plate was of the stone variety and so it was placed into Rampardos' hands. They then made their way to the next exit which they could see as it let snow-reflected light seep into the cave.

The snow out here seemed to not be as violent as before. The winds were gentle and the white fluffs of ice floated down like they were swaying in a hammock. Anna and Justyna led the way on their respective dinosaur and tree monster as Brad and Dawn trailed on the back of Aaron. They explored the rather large and friendly looking area, even going to far as to FROLICK IN THE SNOW. This was inconceivable and yet they were all caught in a moment of bliss as it was only cold when the breeze picked up a bit and other than that, they were warm and content and amused. Paul still floated by Dawn's shoulder but decided to go on ahead when he saw her and her friends having their merry ways. He scouted out the way to the next exit and returned to find the humans still throwing snow at one another. He gave a small but audible screech and all attention turned to him. He beckoned them to follow and when he shot them a strict and serious stare, they decided to follow him. He led them down some stairs into a pretty little valley and then showed them where to climb to get out. They now walked along a narrow stretch of rock along the top of the mountain that let them see the rest of the snow-covered range. They walked in a daze, staring at the beauty of it and following Paul. They made it after about fifteen minutes of walking, Paul showed them another entrance back into the mountain and they went in, a little sad to be leaving the snow but totally stoked when they remembered what they had come here for. BLOOD. 0_0

They realized their pokemon were a little tired from frolicking and allowed them back in their pokeballs. Now they sent out their favourite leg-side pokemon; Brad's sad little absol, Hakete, Anna's totally jokes Luxray, Justyna's faithful jolteon, Light and Paul, of course, remained by Dawn, seeming to grow ever more nervous and shaky as they went forward. His will could not be broken and he continued to guide them even though it seemed that he was being weighed down by something to the point where Dawn had to help his little ghost body up by holding him slightly with her hands. The last tunnel was long and winding and made its way vertically. They came to a corner and stopped, hiding; they could hear voices chattering. They made out scraps of the conversation: it was spacemen conversation. Exchanging grins, they grabbed their balls and jumped out of their hiding spot and fell upon the Galactic Grunts, taken with surprise. The pokemon they had out already finished the grunts in an embarrassing five minutes; embarrassing for the grunts that is. The henchmen whined and crawled away, stumbling through another cave opening that led upwards. Our heroes quickly healed up their pokemon's minor injuries and ran upstairs. The room they entered was amazing.

It was about as large as a cathedral and seemed to be decorated as so. The floor was made out of limestone slabs that were put down geometrically perfectly, not counting the imperfections caused by abandonment. There were pillars that rose and connected with the ceiling, which seemed unnecessary since it was part of the cave. Most of the pillars were broken, all at a diagonal so that they looked like spears pointing upwards. There were other remnants of monuments crumbling around them as well as some recognizable ones of three small, faerie-like beings. Looking upwards to look at the pillars, they noticed that the roof of the cave was a dome and at the very top was a hole that let in light, cold air and some occasional snow. Around the hole and adorning the rest of the ceiling were vast murals of brilliant colours and simple yet intricate designs. Again, they recognized the three lake spirits; they looked like monkeys a within their simple outlines were swirls and lines and detail that would take years to examine. Around the aperture in the ceiling was a giant encircling pokemon that looked akin to a centaur; around it were three other creatures: one black, one blue, one purple. The black one had a face made of gold and large, black wings and eyes red like rubies. There was far more to admire in the masterpiece but our heroes thoughts were interrupted by angering shouts.

Their attention turned to across the room where there stood five figures. The three commanders of Team Galactic were immediately recognized. They remembered one as the creepy scientist they had seen at the Windworks. And the last one was-

"FRIZZY!" Justyna screamed in shock. "How could you?" Anna, Dawn and Brad would stifle a laugh if they were in any danger of laughing.

Cyrus was turned around and he faced them very…slowly…He finally was looking them all in the eyes.

"I believe I introduced myself last time we met." He said coldly.

"You did not! Wait…?" Justyna whipped around, "Is that what you guys were doing while I was sick?" The three nodded, not taking their eyes off of Cyrus. Even his companions were backing away from him as if he was emitting an unpleasant aura.

"Sir, everything is ready." Commander Jupiter said.

Cyrus nodded and pulled from his coat a red chain with three links. Brad finally could not take it anymore.

"What the hell are you doing? What have you been planning to do? Explain!" he shrieked. Hekate barked angrily.

Cyrus looked at his with disinterest, spreading the same look to the girls and then rolled his eyes and stated as if it was obvious.

"I want to destroy the world. This chain will help me do that."

"Where the hell did you even get that?" Justyna asked obliviously.

"I forced the Lake Spirits to make it."

"Forced…how?" Anna asked.

"Well, they didn't want to create it on their own, so I used the energy of other pokemon to encourage them."

"What energy?" Brad demanded.

"The energy they released when the evolve. Or are killed. Both at the same time yields the most amount of energy but that can be difficult sometimes if you can imagine." Cyrus said. He seemed mildly surprised that his enemy was speechless. He took them for being stupid and nudged Commander Saturn, a nervous blue-haired man, to explain.

"We have been collecting pokemon…from various regions with the help of some affiliated teams. And we have been collecting energy from them…for a long time…since we saw the Lake Spirits weren't just going to do what we asked." He started rambling a bit. "We actually have had them for a while, we didn't need to blow up the three lakes. That was for chaos and panic. There needs to be chaos and panic in order for the world to be awful." Cyrus pushed the commander aside out of frustration.

"And when the deities see the evil of this world, they will destroy it and create a better one."

"That's absurd!" Dawn shrieked. She was hugging Paul close to her chest and the poor shuppet was unconscious.

"It's the way the world is and that is why it must be destroyed."

"You just SAID you were making it that way on purpose!" Brad pointed out in rage.

"I am right nonetheless!" Cyrus raised his voice, they could now tell he was serious. He snapped his fingers and his three commanders jumped in front of him and each sent out all their pokemon: they were their golbats, their bronzors and their signature pokemon, Purdugly, Skunktank and Toxicroak. This battle had no rules whatsoever, our heroes sent out three of their own pokemon each. Ten minutes later, their opponents were defeated and Brad, Anna, Dawn and Justyna stood triumphant and determined over them. The three Commanders didn't seem concerned with their defeated pokemon; Mars' eyes were shining and Jupiter and Saturn were holding each other and crying. There were three loud bangs. Each of the commanders fell over, having been shot in the back of the heads. Cyrus was the one brandishing a gun. The same fate had come to the few grunts that he had brought with him here. There was no need for Team Galactic or any collective group. Cyrus walked out to stand over his commanders; they had fallen onto a large slab that was marked with runes. He kneeled on it and placed the red chain on the marks intended for it. They started to glow and the room started to shake as the air in the started to be sucked out violently by three giant rips emerging from the air.


	46. The End Part 2

The air crackled with energy; it started to weight down the humans and pokemon in the room, making them all feel inferior and tired in the presence of such power. Cyrus was laughing, calmly at first and then became more and more hysterical as he felt the energy coursing through the room.

Suddenly, there was a blast and everyone was sent flying backwards. The bodies of the Commanders were sent the furthest back; those still alive were able to hold on. Shielding her eyes against the insane wind, Anna was the first to look up and see three giant figures floating in the air. They started roaring, shaking the cave with immense might. The forceful wind subsided immediately and Anna, Dawn, Brad, Justyna as well as Cyrus and the scientist still with him were able to look up.

There were three giant rips in the air and floating just outside of them, as if they were yanked through the fabric of air, were three giant dragons. On the right was pinkish, two-legged dragon with long wings and a small head; on the left was a dragon with the same metallic look as the first, but it floated on four legs and looked like a blue long-necked dinosaur. In the middle was a black and grey pokemon. It was far larger than the other two and had immense wings made of darkness that made it seem as if they were trapped in a dark cave. Its eyes were red and its head was covered in gold; those eyes were large and looking upon the humans in shock and awe.

Suddenly, reality itself seemed to have just been knocked out of place. The group managed to collect themselves enough to realize that the two-legged dragon had just punched the blue one. They were now glaring at one another and screaming even louder; they each had gems on their bodies and they lit up in their respective colours. The world around them started to feel as if it were made of gelatin and that it was slowly slipping by them. There was another loud bang and another wave of energy sent the humans tumbling backwards. This time, Justyna stood up quickly and helped pull Anna and Dawn to their feet; Brad also managed to clumsily get to his feet with the help of Hakete. The two fighting dragons were gone now; the rips in time and space that they had come from were sealed. The black dragon was hovering over them, dealing its presence by spreading its wings so that they engulfed the whole room. It stared at the group of six small humans before it.

"Giratina!" Cyrus was on his feet and limping forward. He got to the panel where he had placed the Red Chain. He lifted it out of the ground; his knees were dirtied by the blood of his commanders. "With this Red Chain, I command you! Destroy this world! With this Chain, I order you!" He howled.

Giratina started to glow. Its wings stopped being distinguished as such and simply became darkness that spread throughout the cave; it roared and its cry was filled with agony. The feeling of the gelatinous world returned and Anna, Dawn, Brad and Justyna fell over and realized they were sinking into the floor. They tried to yell but their voices could not penetrate the thick air. Cyrus himself also seemed to be melting but the grin on his face suggested that he was oblivious to it. The scientist was slowly crawling toward him, seemingly saying something but his words were lost. The only thing that was heard was Giratina's ear-splitting scream.

Then, suddenly, there was a bright light that emerged from the darkness that seeped from Giratina. It leaked through at first and then started to flow through like a river. Three small shapes could be distinguished in the blinding light. They flew down to where Cyrus was standing and just as quickly as it had begun, reality stopped melting. The girls and Brad quickly got to their feet and ran closer, stopping cautiously behind Cyrus, who was curled over and grasping his stomach. In front of him, floating steadily were Mespirit, Azelf and Uxie; together, they were holding the Red Chain. Cyrus groaned and looked up at them; they each grasped a link in the Chain and very simply disintegrated it before their eyes.

"No!" Cyrus yelled, "You cannot destroy it! You can only create!" The three cute and gentle-faced pokemon turned upon him with twisted expressions of pain and grudging anger. The scientist behind Cyrus had gotten up and was running to the exit. In a flash, Uxie teleported and appeared in front of him. It opened its eyes for a brief second and then teleported back to where it was before. The scientist's knees buckled and he slouched down and fell graciously to the ground.

"You do not understand! Do you not see this world? This terrible world of human hate and destruction? With your help, I wanted to create a better world. We have both suffered but it will be worth it! This new world-" Cyrus was cut off by Brad kicking him in the back.

"Hurray Brad." Dawn said deadpan. She became aware that Paul was still lying helplessly in her arms and she tried to shake him awake. But he was still deep in a trance.

"Woah." Justyna was practically bending all the way back just to take in the enormous pokemon floating over them. Giratina's head dropped and it breathed laboriously, its wings of darkness were also starting to wilt and curl inward. The three lake spirits flew up to it and petted its head, cooing and flying around it in friendship.

"Aw." Anna smiled. The three spirits seemed to just now notice them and they flew down in a hurry, circling around the four humans and playfully hitting them with their long, soft tails. Luxray, Light and Hakete sat politely, watched them and allowed them to pet them. Uxie lingered around Dawn, who was still holding Paul. Uxie came closer to Paul's head and even though its eyes were shut, it was obvious that it was deeply puzzled. And then, in a millisecond, it's expression turned to shock and it and its siblings whipped around to face Giratina. Cyrus was not where he was before. Somehow, he had mustered the strength to pull himself up, charge and jump up high enough to reach the pokemon. He was dangling by one of the wings, which were hanging close to the ground. Giratina was in frenzy, trying to shake him off but being still tense and shocked from its recent ordeal, it flapped its wings furiously, stirring up a powerful wind. Knowing very well the full force of the attack, each trainer grasped their pokemon firmly and both tried their hardest to remain on the ground. The three lake spirits were trying to get to Giratina's face but the winds were too strong. Finally, Giratina gave a loud roar and spread its wings out as far as it could before quickly ducking them in and sucking itself back into the rip that it came from. Cyrus, who was clinging to its wings, came too. Anna, Justyna, Dawn and Brad, who were within reasonable distance, were also along for the ride. The three lake spirits that knew that they could not afford to be stuck in Giratina's realm, teleported away.

They all blacked out. They all woke up an unspecified time later.

Anna, Justyna and Dawn were on an earthy surface; the soil was cold and supported a few strange weeds that vanished when Light pawed at them. They stood up and immediately grabbed each other, realizing that they were on a floating platform and below them was a dark abyss of nothingness. Luxray and Light also huddled close to them and Anna and Justyna decided to call them both back for safety. Paul suddenly zoomed in front of their faces, looking as lively as ever but still very frazzled; he seemed to be looking for something and he found it. He pointed at a platform above them where they soon saw Brad's head emerge from over the edge.

"This is freaking weird. But still pretty awesome." The platform issue was quickly resolved as they had three strong flying pokemon between them. Anna and Dawn were both on Staraptor while Justyna and Brad were on their own pokemon; Justyna led the way through this unknown dimension, sporting an unusual sense of knowing what she was doing. Okay, Paul was guiding them. The earthy platforms were arranged on every possible plane, going vertically and diagonally and upside-down. They were covered in what looked like cactuses but whenever they flew close to them, the cactuses retreated into the ground. They were flying slowly, both looking at the strange but amazing environment and also being cautious not to lose one another.

"Hey! Stop!" Dawn suddenly exclaimed. Her voice was loud for an instance and then was sucked away by the vast nothingness. Brad and Justyna stopped, looking back to where Dawn was pointing; on one of the platforms, an upside down one, was a tiny green bird, sitting on the ground.

"Kiwi! How'd you get up there?" Dawn shouted in confusion. Staraptor carefully flew up and when they were close enough, Dawn grabbed her and pulled her from the gravity of the plate.

"She got out of her pokeball?" Anna asked, "How?" The little natu was sitting in Dawn's arms quietly looking forward. Staraptor flew to join Monty, Luke and their trainers. Paul dashed from the lead and circled around Kiwi, shuppeting questioningly. She squawked something unintelligible to the humans but Paul came away from her with a deeply worried look in his eyes, he slowly floated back to the front.

They flew through the encircling valleys of floating land, Paul leading them with a determination thoroughly surprising after his recent activity. Kiwi was allowed to stay in Dawn's arms, watching the scenery zip by with no visible sign of life escaping her. Dawn wondered why she was stuck with such strange pokemon. Staraptor came to a sudden stop as Paul had stopped too. Justyna and Monty cautiously flew forward and peeked behind a floating vertical platform. She quickly glided back to regroup with Brad, Dawn and Anna.

"There's a huge field floating out there and I think Cyrus is on it. I didn't see it but maybe that's where Giratina is." She reported. That was probably true and a muted roar quickly confirmed that. The four friends exchanged looks of fear and determination and then nodded in agreement. They flew out dramatically and powerfully, not afraid to announce their presence. Their pokemon swooped down and landed on the earth. They quickly dismounted and got ready to throw their pokeballs; Cyrus was standing not ten feet in front of them.

"HEY FRIZZY!" Justyna called purposefully. Cyrus ignored her. Kiwi gave a small squeak. She was silently indicating that something was about to happen. Paul understood and knew what was to come. If he could, he would have made his trainers and pokemon friends leave. But he couldn't and it was time to face up to the wounds they had left.

"Frizz man!" Justyna kept taunting Cyrus, "Turn around so we can kick your butt!"

"Boy!" Cyrus yelled, "Give me Giratina! It has no right to obey someone like you!"

Anna, Dawn and Brad were suddenly filled with worry, stepping back a bit while Justyna and Monty remained forward.

"Whomever you're talking to, come out so we can kick your butt too!" she shouted triumphantly. Monty also cawed loudly in confidence.

An angry squeaking was their response. From behind the far edge of the ledge rose a giant, scratched-up, torn, dark, shady and very, very pissed driftblim. Its small eyes were wide in fury, glaring at Justyna and Monty, whose confidence quickly faded. The balloon pokemon sped at them like a bullet, knocking Justyna backward, past her friends and almost off the edge of the land. Monty squawked in surprise and fear and fled to join his trainer.

"No…" Dawn shook her head. "That's impossible!" She looked to Paul. If she knew anything at this moment, it was that Paul would know. Paul felt his master eying him desperately and he turned to her, then to the angry driftblim, then back to her and he nodded.

"Balloony?" Dawn and Justyna both exclaimed at the same moment. Anna couldn't manage to utter a word but she was equally flabbergasted. Brad was clueless.

"Balloony? What?" he spat.

"You know this thing?" Cyrus shouted, acknowledging their presence.

"I-I caught a driftloon way back when we were in Floaroma Town!" Dawn said. She sounded like she could be crying but she was still in pure shock. "He got lost during a storm and then he returned when we were in this haunted house and he had evolved and then he-!" Dawn stopped as she, along with Anna and Justyna, remembered exactly what had happened that night. That could only mean one thing.

"You said there was a boy here?" Anna called to Cyrus, her voice shaking simultaneously with anger and dread.

"Yes! Some brat with an annoying voice!" Cyrus yelled back with singularly anger, "And he calls himself the 'keeper' of Giratina, which is FALSE!" He screamed the last word with undisputed certainty but the girls were speechless and could not fathom anything at the moment.

"YOUR'RE FALSE!" There came the unremarkable high-squealing retort that sent the coldest chills down Anna, Dawn and Justyna's spines and each knew that they would rather have had the world melt with them along with it than survive to come here. Brad noticed his friends' reactions and was immediately introduced to the gravity of the situation. Cyrus was unphased by all of it and was watching the edge of the platform with fierce tenacity.

Giratina lifted its mighty body from behind it. It looked different; in their world, it had several sets of legs and had smaller wings if you can imagine. Here, it looked like a long snake with spikes growing out of its sides and wings that looked like individual serpents that slithered across the blue vacant sky. It glared at its human foe but waited to strike. On its head sat a young boy, ragged and looked much too serious for his age. He also glowered across the platform, meeting the eyes of Dawn, Justyna and Anna. His thin, bony and dark face slowly drew up into a blinding smirk and his mouth opened in disbelieving laughter.

"There has to be a God!" he howled with glee, "That I get to meet you three again…HERE! In MY domain!"

"YOUR domain?" Cyrus yelled hotly, "This is the Distorted World! The Realm of Giratina and if any human will possess it, it will be ME!" Cyrus pointed at himself with both hands, like an angry child demanding back his favourite toy. The boy smiled even wider, struggling to hide his laughter but failing. He made a high-pitched squealing noise that sounded like a familiar squeak. From out of the blue, Balloony swooped in and hit Cyrus from the side. The stupefied man's body flew across the platform and rolled across the ground, slipping off the edge into oblivion with only one gasp of air. And their antagonist was gone. Brad was now fully aware of the situation and he and his noctowl took a defensive stance, bewildered as to why the girls weren't doing the same until Dawn finally identified him.

"Momiji,"

"OH! You recognize me do you?" His high voice combined with his anger into a chilling concoction. "How are you? Were you enjoying yourself up until now?" Balloony's angry squeaking turned into low bellows that droned through the air.

"HOW!" Justyna was back on her feet and had run ahead of Dawn and Anna, "How are you still alive?"

"You want me DEAD do you?" Momiji's painful voice asked, "How? Because of HER damn balloon!" He pointed a finger at Dawn, who was standing without any expression but disturbance. Anna was over the blow of the event and was being apprehensive. She could hear the hatred and hysteria in the boy's voice and knew that he must have some degree of control over Giratina.

"I was DRAGGED here by Balloony. And we tried to get out but OH he didn't know HOW anymore!" Momiji accused Balloony whose monstrous eyes were focused exclusively on Dawn; it inflated and deflated rapidly to match its hungry breathing.

"And after a while, we met Giratina." He stroked the head of the legendary pokemon, "And Giratina let us stay with him and we did because we knew that if we went back to the world of PEOPLE, wed be BETRAYED and left to DIE!"

"Giratina left a while ago and I wondered what was so important. And then he came back, HURT! And he tells me that there are PEOPLE following him. So we hide from that crazy man because 'Tina's hurt and then what do I hear but YOUR voices…in my HOME. I can't pass this up." Momiji trailed off into laughter.

Brad had moved closer to Dawn and Anna. He was whispering fearfully, his heart in his mouth, still full of questions despite Momiji's rant. His eyes turned to Justyna, who was still standing in front of them, he hissed urgently that she come back but she along with Dawn was frozen in fright. Paul was floating close to Dawn, his face was unreadable as well was Kiwi's, who looked up at the boy and the dragon with vacant eyes. Staraptor and Monty recognized Momiji too and were hiding behind their masters.

"Yeah…" Momiji's voice returned to a trancelike sound, as he was thinking over all the things he could do to them, "Finally, I can enact my revenge on you TWO!" He pointed with both hands, one at Dawn and one at Justyna. Anna was thrown by her exclusion.

"US?" Justyna cried. She looked at Anna too, quite rudely but she was thrown by it as well.

"You two acted like you were my FRIENDS. And then when I most needed you, YOU LEFT ME!" he accused. He saw Justyna's frantic double takes. "SHE never liked me. I could rely on her to let me down. But YOU TWO…you two will PAY!" Momiji roared the last words and his eyes flared with insanity. Balloony flew up and around Giratina, stopping behind him and preparing to attack.

"Get back here!" Brad growled, reaching out and pulling Justyna back to the group. She and Dawn were both stunned and held onto each other, looking blankly at Momiji and Giratina, channeling his anger. "Don't just stand there! We can do something!"

Brad continued to scream at them but to no avail. Giratina smacked the ground with its heavy tail; Monty and Staraptor ran to the huddling girls, holding them for fear of their own lives. Brad was about to scold them for it but he saw that his own noctowl was becoming more and more uneasy. He saw Paul was still motionless, floating as if all action was futile. Brad suddenly became fully aware of the looming pokemon before them and the very crazy, young, impressionable boy that was controlling. He suddenly felt helpless as well.

Giratina raised his head to as high as he could. He reared back with preparation; his mouth started to glow with fire and his eyes were red with the same. Momiji was laughing and the droning hilarity of the driftblim was playing in the background. They all squeezed their eyes shut as they heard the fire flicking and snapping in the dragon's mouth grow louder and stronger. They all held to each other and prepared for the blast. It came at full strength: they felt its heat sizzle past them and they felt the dry air hitting their faces. Dawn and Justyna and Brad held on and suddenly realized that their deaths should have come already. They felt each other, ensuring that they were still there and opened their eyes to see why. Time stopped.

The sky was white. Giratina's shape was veiled by it. There was one visible figure between them and the catastrophic end. The whiteness painted the sky for a moment longer and in that moment, the heat vanished. The air was filled with cold emptiness and Dawn, Justyna and Brad watched Anna's body bend back slowly and hit the ground limp, sudden and dead.


	47. The End Part END

The moment allowed them to wait. They didn't move, holding onto one another and looked. There was a small breeze; it tossed Anna's hair across her open eyes that didn't react. While they held their breath, Momiji's quick panting was heard and Giratina was making a low, mournful noise and sagging its head to the ground.

Dawn's legs rattled underneath the weight of her misery and she fell to her knees, not taking her eyes off the body; they started to water and were quickly overflowing as quick, raspy sobs escaped her. Then Justyna screeched, the echoes being nearly as piercing as the source. She ripped herself from Brad's clutches and leaped over the body, charged at Giratina with her fist raised, jumped on its head and grabbed Momiji's shirt. Giratina roared and thrashed its head back and forth, flinging them both off. Justyna held onto the boy and started punching and clawing at him with all her rage. Balloony swooped in, its mouth wide to reveal spiraling rows of small, jagged teeth; luckily, Monty collided with him in time and flayed his wings viciously to protect his trainer. Momiji and Justyna were still struggling on the ground when a strong, angry hand yanked the boy out of her grasp and into the air, tossing him aside. Brad grabbed Momiji and started punching him in the face. Balloony was too tied up with Monty so Giratina, enraged anew, swung its incredible wings to pull Brad away.

Luke flew charging into Giratina's face. The dragon was distracted and Staraptor shrieked grudgingly and cut him with Brave Bird, slicing and scratching his face with her fast wings. Giratina reached to grab the two birds and one of their owners threw Momiji aside to assist them. Giratina wished to intimidate them into surrender and stretched his body so that he was towering above them menacingly. Bradley took a step back but prepared to attack. Off from the side, a sharp, nippy wind blew into Giratina's face and left unpleasant frost on the gold around it. He switched his attention swiftly along with Bradley and they saw that Justyna had sent out her remaining five pokemon: Riceball, Makowca, Riley, Light and Wario. They were all standing ready to fight. Giratina's roar shook the entire domain; rocks floating above them crumbled a bit but neither Justyna nor Bradley were scared away. Brad reached into his pockets and hurled all his pokeballs, releasing Hakete, Blaze the Blaziken, Aaron the Aggron, Kyle the Metagross and Chops the Kabutops. Everyone attacked. The entire scene was a blinding mess of attacks but no one cared because all anyone wanted to do was destroy the other.

"Giratina!" Momiji bawled but he was drowned out by the noise of blasts and screams. Brad was in the air, riding Luke to get a better view of the battle.

"MONTY!" Justyna was able to yell above it all and her honchkrow gave one last clawing sweep at Balloony and broke away to pick her up and fly her over the field. She and Brad flew around Giratina, who was flailing his wings, content with hitting anything he could; they dodged them and screamed at their pokemon to attack with all the strength they could muster, jumping and avoiding the powerful wings thrashing carelessly.

Only Balloony was by his side now and he dragged Momiji away from the large fighting area where pokemon were constantly jumped forward and back with attack and recover. When he was able to stand by himself, Momiji shoved the ghost pokemon away and wiped away the blood Brad had beaten out of him. A scowl stretched his skin and made more blood escape his head wound; he patched it up stubbornly with his sleeve and whipped around to face to forgotten Dawn, already emotionally defeated, slumped on her knees. He didn't say anything, but only pointed and with his glare, told Balloony that he couldn't care less with what he did with her. The driftblim threw his sharp-teethed mouth open as wide as he would and charged at her, chomping and uttering a broken up squeaking that could be taken for malicious laughter. Dawn didn't look worried as he did so and only closed her eyes in anticipation. The squeaking was unexpectedly silenced and accompanied by a fast displacement of air and Dawn's eyes flew open. Paul floated in her defense, warding off the driftblim with only the touch of his horn.

He pushed the balloon pokemon back but Balloony attacked relentlessly with Payback, knocking Paul far and off into the dark recesses of the world. The driftblim turned to Dawn again and prepared to devour her. He was suddenly rearing back in painful, squeaky pain and glowing a faint purple colour. Dawn oriented herself to what was going on and she realized that she was still clenching Kiwi in her hands. The little bird started to grow very warm and Dawn let her go; she rolled forward and stood on her feet, becoming completely white and growing taller and more cone-shaped in seconds, shaking off the white light by unfurling her large, geometrically cut wings. Driftblim was released from her psychic grip and floated limply for a second before regaining his fury and attacking her by hurling a Shadow Ball at her. Kiwi took the attack straight to the chest and was pushed back two squares. Balloony was getting prepared to attack again but quickly, the new xatu's eyes flashed pink and using Me First, she swiped the move from him and attacked with Payback, throwing the driftblim back several spaces. Balloony trumpeted madly and charged forward, attempting to use his brute strength to inflict damage. But in his way, a shuppet had returned and when he was within a few feet of him, sent him flying back with Sucker Punch.

"Balloony!" Momiji's raspy voice yelled angrily, "WIN you stupid hot air crap balloon!" Balloony recovered from the hit and stood in front of him, his arms whipped up and down and launched him across the field. He suddenly disappeared with a flash of red light. A single twitch and Balloony was safely contained within Dawn's Master Ball.

Momiji lost control of everything. "NO! You can't catch Balloony! He's mine! I'm the one who was supposed to beat you! I was supposed to get what I deserved!" Oh, he set her up perfectly with that line. Dawn got to her feet, Paul and Kiwi brimming with rage in front of her.

"You'll get EXACTLY what you deserve." Dawn replied with a steady and sure coldness. She reached into her bag and grabbed the first one she could and threw it. The Luxury Ball hit Momiji square in the head and the red deteriorating ray intended safely for pokemon electrocuted him and rattled every individual cell of his being. The ball failed and fell broken to the ground; whatever was in Luxury balls however, had wafted into Momiji and he wandered around in what seemed to be a drunken stupour with a large grin on his face.

"I LIKE you! I always LIKE you!" He chuckled, "I LOVE TO LAUGH!" And with a last dizzy step, he stepped off the edge of the land and fell into the never-ending darkness of the Distorted World. Dawn stepped forward apprehensively and picked up the Master Ball. She held it firmly and sighed with relief. Kiwi squawked and she and Paul hastily pushed Dawn out of the way of the lucario that crashed into the ground and slid through the soil in defeat; Paul gasped and hurried over to check on his friend. A red beam of light touched Riley and retired him to his pokeball.

Giratina was being weakened continually by the team of pokemon; flames, water jets and physical attacks engulfed him. But just as soon as he would get hit, Giratina retaliated in anger and pain and whipped his massive wings to try to knock back his attackers. His eyes would shimmer and he'd create blue spheres of energy, shooting them at his enemies too. Brad and Justyna on their birds and Staraptor were able to dodge them but some of their teammates on the ground weren't so swift. Riceball had been hit several times but was able to get back up and attack with Hydro Pump or Bubblebeam; Wario and Chops had already been knocked out and returned to his pokeball. Brad's metagross and Aaron were hardy but it didn't look like they could stand for very much longer. Brad and Justyna's more limber pokemon were determinedly dashing about the field, dodging and striking time after time. Light and Makowca fought with fire and lighting alongside Hakete and Blaze, leaping and avoiding and throwing their unphysical attacks at the legendary dragon. Individually, they seemed to do nothing but Giratina was evidently becoming wore down but that only made him more careless and ruthless in his attacks.

Monty zoomed in and struck Giratina in the back with Night Slash; Giratina instinctively whipped around and smacked them across the vast nothingness, with Justyna holding on tight to the bird. Brad took advantage of the distraction and collectively ordered all the remaining pokemon to attack Giratina's back. The dragon bellowed in pain and turned around again and smashed its head into the platform. Brad was to recall Aaron and Kyle before they could be hurt and trusted that the more agile pokemon could help themselves. Staraptor immediately attacked Giratina with Brave Bird again and caused him to bring his head back up. Light and Makowca rushed over to Riceball; she had been caught under the dragon's body and was lying unconscious in the dirt; a red beam disintegrated her and the typhlosion, to her surprise. Monty and Justyna swooped down and grabbed Light, flying high into the air. Brad screamed for Blaze and Hakete to keep attacking. Giratina was very weak now and covered with burns and scratches. Lighting split the air and Giratina moaned again and slowed its movements. Crippled with paralysis now as well, he shook with rage and want to destroy. He vanished suddenly in a flash of red light. An ultra ball fell to the ground and twitched violently. It moved once…twice…three times. It finally sputtered a forth time and ceased. Brad descended and joined Blaze and Hakete, who were awestruck and filled with relief. Monty glided gently down and landed in a twisted mess; Justyna got off of him and called him back. Light trotted nervously but with caution to the pokeball and seeing it was finally done, gave a little leap of joy.

Justyna scooped up the pokeball and held it up high to that everyone, if anyone, could see. "We did it! We caught Giratina!" She laughed but the happiness was quickly sucked away. Dawn has crouching with Paul, Kiwi, Staraptor and Anthony; she had sent out her Garchomp when Giratina had become more violent to grab and protect Anna's body. He had lain it down again and they were all watching it in peaceful grief. Brad absentmindedly recalled Blaze and Luke and joined her on his knees. Justyna and Light silently trudged over too, now deeply depressed again after a moment of excitement. Dawn had the head in her lap and was hugging it possessively. Brad, Justyna and everyone else sat very close, not taking their tear-filled eyes off the body; no one was paying attention to anything else. No one noticed that the pokeball clasped in Justyna's left hand had developed a small crack.

After a long silence, the three of them finally broke down crying. They all reached and hugged the body together, like the group hugs they had enjoyed times before. Staraptor cried and nuzzled her trainer's head while the other pokemon silently respected their master's sorrow and waited griefly. The crack had grown a smidge larger but had ceased upon their breakdown. The crack had stopped for a while and then it glowed faintly, it would be unnoticeable without close scrutiny and at the moment, it was so insignificant that it didn't matter to anyone except the dead.

Their sobs died away too as they didn't help anything and they were tired. They still held the body, wallowing in their sorrows and accepting that everything was hopeless and they would probably die here as well in the never-ending, dark silence of this world.

"Dawn…you're touching my boob." Anna said drowsily.

The three sobbing sods instantaneously blazed to life and leaped back in shock and surprise, screaming. Light hissed in fright and Staraptor was squawking and flapping her wings like crazy.

"Ow, my legs are asleep. So are my arms." Anna said in her familiar monotone voice.

"ANNA!" Dawn, Brad and Justyna screamed together, rushing together and hugging her in joy. Staraptor realized what was going on and joined in along with all the other pokemon who were rejoicing.

"We thought we lost you!" Justyna cried. Anna looked confused and slightly uncomfortable at everyone hugging her so tightly.

"You must have been dead for almost 10 minutes!" Brad shouted, laughing from happiness.

"DEAD?" Anna asked, shocked herself.

"Yeah! Don't you remember?" Justyna asked obviously, "What do you remember?"

Anna's eyes widened as she did since rigor mortis had set in and she couldn't really move anything except her face. "Oh my gosh, I remember waking up and I was in this train station! And everything was white and except for there was a smashed cherry pie under a bench. And then Professor Rowan showed up but he was dressed as a magician…" Anna struggled to remember the rest of the dream but she found herself distracted by her friend's endless huggles. "And then it became super dark and I was in a tunnel and holy crap, there were these freaky red eyes!"

Anna gasped and would have jolted to a sitting position if she could move. "What happened to Giratina and Momiji?"

"We killed the latter." Dawn said, not feeling very guilty about it. "And I even re-caught Balloony."

She showed them the Master Ball and Brad and Anna both stared at her in disappointment. "With a Master Ball? Why would you do that?" Brad groaned.

"Yeah! Speaking of that, I caught Giratina but a Master Ball would have made it so much easier!" Justyna accused Dawn, now able to excitedly flaunt her ultra ball for real now.

"Have you already broken it Justyna?" Dawn asked curiously, noticing the previously unnoticed crack.

"Uhh..?" Justyna examined the ball with slight worry. The crack split into twice its size and she felt the sphere grow extremely hot. "Oh shi-!"

The ultra ball broke open, losing some pieces and engulfing the hand holding it in overheated red energy. Justyna screamed and threw the contraption away and clutched her burned left hand. The red energy zipped out of the remains of the pokeball, expanded and settled into the shape of Giratina. The gang had gone silent, awaiting further judgment.

There was a loud rip and like they were in a spaceship, Anna, Brad, Justyna and Dawn felt all the air being sucked out behind them. Or rather, there was a huge portal behind them that was trying to suck them in. They looked back and forth from it to Giratina with indecision and confusion until Giratina finally roared and scared them into running towards the portal.

"GUYS! I still can't move!" Anna screamed. Dawn backtracked with Anthony to pick her up. Giratina's roar had exhausted and the dragon was floating up and over them, starting to curl up like a doughnut.

"Hurry! The portal's closing!" Justyna yelled to them, standing at the entrance with Light. Staraptor was there too and as soon as Anthony had made it, she grabbed Anna with her talons and flew threw the portal. Anthony leaped on through, nearly getting stuck in the shrinking aperture. Justyna grabbed Light and leaped through and finally Dawn escaped followed by Paul, who took one last look back and nodded respectively to Giratina before floating through the opening, seconds before it disappeared permanently. The Distortion World was now closed.

Dawn and Paul fell out from a decent height, the human falling on her back. She rolled over in pain and saw Brad lying a short distance away, hugging his beloved absol. Staraptor was splayed out on the floor with Anna's body lying by her feet; Dawn squinted her eyes to make sure she was breathing. Anthony was on his stomach, grimacing a little so Dawn returned him to his pokeball. Justyna wasn't laying down like the others but seemed to be sitting on a broken pillar, her back to Dawn, and she looked to be tending to her burned hand.

Knowing that everyone was safe, Dawn returned to lying on her back and admired the ceiling. The beautiful cave drawings still danced around the opening at the top of the cave, among them were Giratina, Dialga and Palkia and the three spirits. Dawn felt a bit of snow fall on her cheek as she was lying right under the aperture. She would have rolled away, but for now, she just smiled and closed her eyes to get some sleep.


	48. Epilogue

Professor Rowan found the four gathered around in a circle up in the Spear Pillar; they were helping Anna revigorate her limbs since she had been dead for some time. Oh and Justyna's hand was pretty burned too. The Professor wasn't alone; Tyler and Christian were with him(much to Bradley's dismay). The old man was winded from the climb up the mountain so they all sat down and listened to what the hell had gone down. Rowan was very proud. Tyler and Christian were somewhat jealous of their exciting adventure but happy to tell them that they had now become the Professor's assistants just like Brad. Brad was very, very angry.

They made it down the mountain and took the time to walk all the way back, talking and being merry the whole way there. They winded through Oreburg and to Jublife City where they found the bustling city greeted them as heroes. Dawn's parents were there and extremely proud; they invited them all to dinner but only Justyna and Anna were able to attend. Brad had to return to his meager job along with his two new friends with Rowan laughing at his misfortune the whole way back home. The dinner was very delicious and Dawn's father was very friendly. Although they asked them to stay, Justyna and Anna could only allow themselves to remain one night. They had to get home. Dawn smiled and waved them goodbye from her door, with all her pokemon alongside her sending them off. The only one who didn't seem so enthused was Balloony…

They stopped briefly in Sangem to make sure Tyler and Christian were enjoying their new job. They were. Bradley was still suffering. Then, they rode back to Twinleaf Town on Kisa. They lived only a few houses away from one another; Justyna dismounted Kisa and ran back home with Light on her heels. Anna got off Kisa and the torterra followed her back home. She knocked on the door and was home from a journey of an unspecified length.

That following summer, Justyna went away. Her father and her cussin' grandmother lived in Cianwood City in Johto and she went there after receiving a letter that the former had a gift for her. Feeling lonely, Anna went to see Bradley, Tyler and Christian in Sangem City. They were still not the happiest of fellows but had managed to work out a system that allowed them to continue working together without stabbing each other in the eyes. Rowan was satisfied with the suffering he had cast upon the Bradley and suggested that Anna should help him do research in Kanto. At the last minute, he sent Brad in his place.

Brad and Anna took to a long adventure in the Kanto region. 'Research' seemed to mean competing at all the gyms and beating their way to the Elite Four of the region. They also took the time to explore the Sevii Islands, which Anna really, really enjoyed and thought that it would be lovely to swindle away one of these islands and live on it.

Justyna beat her way through the Johto region, just as her friends, catching many new pokemon and meeting many new friends. Finally, she made it to her father's house where it turned out he had caught her a new pokemon: a laviatar. Aw, that was sweet. After vacationing with them, she decided that it was high time to test her skills at the Elite Four. And wouldn't you know it, out of sheer plot contrivance, Anna and Brad were there at the exact same time! :D

Together, they were able to defeat the Elite Four and like any logical person, each refused the title of league champion. After they returned home, Anna checked her email to find a crapton of letters from Dawn: she was lonely. Brad's time to have fun was over and he wouldn't want to come anyway as Justyna suggested that the girls go for a fun party over in Hoenn. Brad has bad memories of his time in Hoenn. Once again as the best of pals, the gals journeyed through Hoenn and kicked all kinds of ass. Unlike their previous adventures though, they did not challenge the Elite Four. Dawn then, feeling left out, asked Anna and Justyna if they could visit Johto and Kanto. They sighed and allowed it to go forth. It was great fun still and each journey brought them more pokemon and more friends.

Three long years passed during this entire course. Justyna, Anna and Dawn returned from yet another journey and were relaxing at Dawn's crib when they received a call from Bradley. Another long period of pain and suffering had ended for him and Rowan had given him a bit of vacation time. He also casually mentioned a place called Unova. Remember that ferry in Snowpoint? It's running now.

They flew up to the cold, cold region and visited young Jenn while they were there. She was now very successful in her doctorliness. She also sells plushies.

Anna, Justyna, Dawn and Brad waited patiently for the ferry to dock and greeted the kind, handsome sailor that Justyna had some acquaintance with. They boarded the ship and before long it started to sail. The snowy land of Sinnoh slowly sunk behind the horizon and the watery path ahead became shrouded in white fog and snow. It was a beautiful unknown. The four of them were on the deck watching. As always Paul was there and Light and Hakete sided by their masters and watched too.

"WOO!" Justyna screamed into the emptiness. "New adventure YEAH!"

Anna went "Yay."

Brad clapped.

And Dawn meowed in excitement.

**Le FIN**

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…**Or is it?**

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**No. There's going to be a sequel. **


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